Bear With Us

As you can see, we are in process of upgrading our journal. Upgrading is not the same as redecorating or merely choosing a new template. It is going from HTML to hands tied blogging, which is what Jan calls layouts. But it does have some advantages. Doing this means we lost everything not blogger related and will have to add things back as we can.

Amazing Carrol Crocker

Update 9 p.m. -- Can anyone help with transport?

Zazu of Forgotten Paws:
Thank you all for singing the petition and writing to the Oprah show. We hope that this will be a huge help in getting even more attention to Carol and her dogs.

If anyone is interested in assisting in transport efforts for these dogs, please write to me at zazu_uzaz@yahoo.com. There are a number of rescues in the NE who are willing to help. Now, just need to get these babies there!


HB left a message on "Carol Crocker Update" just a little bit ago. We are so glad she took the time to write it and give us a link to view some of her photos. We want to share the news with you, so we are posting her comment.

Please keep Carol and her dogs before the public. There is progress but still a way to go. We are purring and wagging our tails so hard Jan can't pick up after us fast enough. We want this wonderful woman and her dogs to have a better life than what is facing them right now.

And, Carrol, we apologize for misspelling your name through all our posts. The correct spelling is Carrol.

HB wrote:

We took some time to meet Carrol Crocker for ourselves on Sunday. We spent the day bathing, mowing lawns, filling water buckets, talking and crying with Carrol. This lady is amazing. Her dogs are happy, loving and healthy. Not one aggressive or dog that suffers. Still has over 70 dogs needing rescue.

She watched her house burn to the ground and listen to the crys of 18 handicap dogs die that she could not save. The fire was an attempt to kill. No one is investigating, her government has failed her, her people have failed, her town has failed her. Where the hell is her community to help her? When is the next fire?

Its a matter of time before it gets cold. She has no heat, no hot water, no firewood, she sleeps on a army type cot, why, because she is selfless, these dogs are her livelihood and every penny goes to help the dogs of Rainsville that people threw out.

Spend a day with this woman. Talk to her, laugh with her, hug her, help her. You will come home unable to quit thinking of her. Mow her lawn, weed wack, help cut trees for firewood, spend a day with her before you can judge her. She does not deserve the ignorance. This woman should be the town hero. Good things are going to happen for her and her dogs.

Thank you to all the amazing people who donated to her, donated their time and their prayers. She is thankful more then you will know.

This is my visit and my photos. Please sign her petition she needs everyone to fight for her. If you are interested in adopting a dog all adoptions will go thru Forgotten Paws.

Please read the information on this page: Green Acres Animal Sanctuary, Rainesville, Alabama.

Click here to view HB's photos.

To read any of our earlier posts on Carrol:

Rainsville Situation Update.

Carol Crocker Update.

Carol Crocker's Rescue.

Rainsville Situation Update

We have what appears to be another update to the Rainsville, Alabama dog rescue story. If this is true, we are glad we emailed Best Friends about the conflicting information.

Zazu left a new comment on our Saturday post, "Carol Crocker Update." We don't know Zazu or how to contact this person but we're posting this in case ......

Hi. I'm a volunteer with Forgotten Paws Dog Rescue, working in conjunction with Best Friends Society for Carol's dogs. We have been on site with Carol and all of her wonderful dogs.

As an up to the minute update (9/28at 10:00 p.m.) we have pulled one dog from Carol's today and transported to an FP foster home. We will be pulling 2 more on Tuesday, one to FP foster and the other to a permanent home. 2 are scheduled to move on 10/6 to a permanent home if all goes well. There are a few rescues in the northeast who are interested in taking a few of the dogs and a few individuals from whom we are accepting applications.

This is very much still a desperate situation so please continue to post far and wide.

Also, please sign the petition (google Rainsville petition). (We googled it. Click here for the petition.) This is an effort to stop the city from destroying these beautiful animals.

Also, write to the Oprah show at www.Oprah.com\contactus. Put Help Rainsville Dogs in the subject line. She needs as much exposure as she can get and as quick as she can get it! Thank you for caring! These dogs are AWESOME! Friendly, sweet, loveable and so very deserving of a great life.

The email is NOT correct and has served only to hinder a very desperate rescue effort.

**There is a link above to our Saturday post where we included an email stating Best Friends was taking all the dogs today and none would be euthanized. This is the email referred to above as not correct. This is a very confusing story to follow, but the gist of this post is that Carol Crocker still desperately needs help to place all her dogs before the city of Rainsville confiscates and kills them!

Carol Crocker Update

We wrote a post on September 13th about Carol Crocker of Rainesville, Alabama. She has been the unofficial county shelter for a number of years but was suddenly taken to court by the city to force her to get rid of all but 3 dogs on her property. If she loses her appeal all the dogs will be removed and killed.

So, animal lovers posted and networked, and rescue groups arrived to assess the situation and see what can be done to help her. That was why I posted, to help spread the word.

This Thursday we received a copy of an email received by a friend from Dog Pack Rescue, and we asked if it is okay to post it. We sent a copy of this to a Georgia group that had just gotten the word and started an email campaign, telling them the dogs are safe because of this message: John was at Carrol Crocker's today in Rainsville and she told him that Best Friends came to meet with her, and they are coming on Sunday to remove all but three dogs from her shelter. They promised that no dog would be euthanized, some will be placed with rescue groups and some will go to Utah.

Friday, we decided before posting we would try to contact Best Friends to verify this information. We received this response:
Thank you for your concern regarding Carrol Crocker and her rescued dogs in Rainsville, Alabama. The Animal Help Department at Best Friends has been working with the rescue community to continue to put out the word about Carrol's dogs and to assist with networking to find homes for them. A couple of weeks ago we issued one of our member alerts to a very wide area, and there are a number of other alerts issued by other people concerned about Carrol and asking for assistance.

At this time our Sanctuary is full, and at times like this we try to use our Network to spread the word about animals in need.

We will continue to work with the rescuers closest to the situation to see if further publicity will help. At this time, because posts about Carrol have circulated so widely, we feel it is best to await the response to the information already in circulation. We will be checking in with Carrol to determine her needs as this moves along. Again, thank you for your compassion about Carrol and her dogs.

Well, we don't know about you, but we find this confusing. So we again emailed Best Friends. We wrote: There is some kind of a misunderstanding. Perhaps Carol Crocker was thinking of another rescue group coming in Sunday to pick up the dogs or ...... But there is quite a gap between this message and yours. Since others have read and passed on this message and I passed it on to a rescue group here in GA that Carol's dogs are already rescued, I feel terrible.

Is it okay to pass on your the information in your email message? Perhaps even to post it tomorrow? Because according to what you're telling me, Carol's dogs are still in jeapordy.

There was no response. So we're posting it anyway because it appears Carol Crocker does still need help.

As to Carol Crocker's dogs, your guess is as good as ours right now as to what is actually happening. We hope she is receiving the help she needs for those animals. And then we hope she will accept some help for her own circumstances. If we wore hats, we would tip them to this wonderful woman!

You can read our original post here.

Opus and Cat House on the Kings

Opus skipped celebrating his 13th birthday Monday. Instead he hosted a remembrance wake for his littermate Roscoe.

His good friend Sassy thought we might all cheer Opus and his humans with a card shower today. We're not very techy - actually we aren't the least bit techy - but a sweet friend who would probably prefer to remain nameless helped us with a homemade card. Isn't this just the perfect card for, as Skeezix called us, the Funny Farmers! We tried to use "Jan's Funny Farmers," but we couldn't make it fit. (Click on the graphic to enlarge.)



Opus, we know you miss your brother. We hope the love and support of your fellow blogging kitties and woofies will help cheer your day.




And to keep a positive, uplifting theme for the day, this is a unique no cage/no kill cat and dog shelter. What a way to live while waiting for a forever home! We commend the wonderful woman who owns this place.




Stop by Cat House on the Kings.

Crickets and Buster Bunny

Um, about the book we won from Skeezix. We were so excited after we caught some crickets for Jan that we decided not to wait until Halloween to surprise her. We put the crickets in a plastic container and wrapped it up with the book.

She unwrapped her present and seemed a little interested in the book, The Reality TV Handbook. Until she noticed something move in the container. She popped the lid and then popped a screech that was probably heard in the next county. Our ears are still ringing and since Samaritan is the tallest and he was sitting right beside her, he's still a little deaf in his right ear.

Needless to say, she threw the container across the room and let all the crickets out. We tried to catch them but they disappeared under the baseboards.

Maybe it's just as well. She could never catch enough bugs on her own to support her appetite. She'd probably have had to join the Cricket Bucket of the Day Club, which could probably run into squillions of dollars and we certainly couldn't afford to support her habit. Neither could she.

But, personally, we think that's a very rude way to accept a gift. We put a lot of thought and effort into it. She could at least have tried one cricket.

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"With the Premium Dardos, recognize the values that each blogger shows each day in commitment to transmit cultural values, ethical, literary, personal etc. that, in short, demonstrate their creativity by alive thinking that remains intact from their letters and words. " This label implies two rules: the first, link the blog to which he received the award. The second - pick blogs to deliver the prize."

We received this award from River and we would like to pass it on to :

Niko and Cloud (Cloud's coming home!) because their mom will continue Texas' photo contest, even though he left for the bridge recently, and has given two new kittens a home.

The Kapp Pack for their rescue work and fundraising for Siberian Huskies.

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We met the cutest little blind Irish Hare bunny who lives in -- who would have guessed? -- Dublin, Ireland. He... actually they finally learned he's a she ... was found sitting in the road when she was a tiny leveret. Stop by and meet Buster.

Celebrating Roscoe

This is the story we posted to Remembering Roscoe today. Even if you’re not participating or you didn’t know Roscoe, please stop by to read the tributes and perhaps to leave a message. Today is a very sad but special day for Opus and his humans.

Opus has declared today, their 13th birthday, to be a day of celebrating his brother Roscoe’s life. We’re here as a family, but Percy and Rusty would like to say a few words first.

Percy: When I joined the CCSI cast of “The Santa Caper” last year, I wasn’t aware there would be a formal cast party. Jan couldn’t afford to buy me a suitable wardrobe for the trip, so I wasn’t going to attend. Opus and Roscoe generously offered to lend me whatever I needed, including one of their spare tuxedos.


Opus, Percy and Roscoe

When I got home, I found their tuxedo at the bottom of my suitcase. I offered to return it, but the guys told me it was a gift. Opus might not know that before I left, Roscoe offered to give me the orange tux he originally purchased for the party.



Roscoe had a special flair for wearing flamboyant outfits. Nothing was too outlandish for him, but Opus and I both lack the ability to carry it off with Roscoe’s panache, so I didn’t accept the gift. I really admired Roscoe for being comfortable with himself and not letting others deter him from living his life with zeal and passion.

Rusty: I still chuckle at the memory of Opus yelling, “Shark, shark,” as Sassy, Momo, Charlie and the rest of the group on a cruise around the bay watched a fin slowly approach the boat.When Opus’ voice rose several octaves and he started screaming, “Seriously, get out of the water, there’s a real shark coming,” we rolled on the deck with laughter as Roscoe’s body suddenly sprang from the water and he started cat paddling as fast as he could for safety. When he caught his breath, he chased Opus around the boat for spoiling his joke.

JFF: At Karl’s party, after a few too many “BBQ’d lizards,” Roscoe dared Buddy to go off the high dive into the hot tub. A hot tub does not have a high dive. The only high diving that day was Buddy trying to climb the tree limb that stretched above the tub. (In case you haven’t met Buddy yet, he’s a 50+ pound hound dog.


We all really enjoyed Roscoe’s sense of humor and adventure.We have seen so many pictures of Roscoe, some serious and some in jest.We all agree that this is one of our favorites.



Roscoe, we wish you were here today celebrating your birthday with Opus and your folks, wearing your bathing cap, drinking a niptini, and playing pranks on your guests. We all miss you, but we have wonderful memories, and we will see you again one day at the bridge.

And Opus, allowing Roscoe to have the limelight is just your nature, but you also deserve special recognition today. We know Cyndi and Danilo are giving you extra attention, but we want to wish you a very special Happy Birthday! – and many more to come.

Photos are courtesy of Sassy, Opus & Roscoe

Funny Farmers Write

What a mouthwatering sight! A slice of fudge brownie cheesecake from the website of thefatherstable.com. (Excuse us for borrowing this, TFT, but we want to be fair and show your side of the evidence too.) Doesn't it look thick and creamy? You can click on it to enlarge it.



Cotton: Buddy, stop drooling! Jan won't let us have any chocolate! She says it could kill us.

Buddy: Well, Jan was drooling - okay, practically drooling - when her friend sent a whole one of those cheesecakes over as a surprise. Jan just loooooves cheesecake. And she was raised on Philly cheesecake, the best ever.

Jan cut a slice of what appeared to be a cheesecake drizzled with chocolate, looked confused there was more chocolate than cheese, bit into it, and made an awful face. The chocolate was rich and oily and the cheese part tasted more like a heavy cream cheese icing than cheesecake. She couldn't finish that piece. Or another a day or two later.


She checked the web address on the bottom of the package - yes, on the bottom of the large round plastic package where you couldn't tell it wasn't a chocolate drizzled cheesecake unless you either held it way above your head or turned the package over.

She didn't want to upset her friend. What to do? We suggested she take pictures to prove what she had didn't look anything like what they have pictured and then write the company. For once, she listened and took our advice. This is what came in her package. Doesn't look much like theirs, does it?


Jan emailed myfatherstable.com on September 11th and explained the situation to them, even that she had taken pictures to prove the item doesn't match the photo on their site. They haven't responded. So we decided to write a message to the company that would get their attention. We were going to begin with, Dear Imitation Cheesecake Company, but we have decided to emulate our friend Skeezix who, instead of being rude, defended his friend Jeter in a polite letter to entre card.

So, this is the letter we are sending TFH.

Dear TheFathersTable:

We are writing on behalf of our food lady and internet provider Jan, who sent an email to your company a week and a half ago and has not received a response. Perhaps, after reading her message, you cried onto your keyboard and shorted it out?

You see, her friend gave her one of your "cheesecakes" and she can't bring herself to tell her friend what a ... a ... a disappointment (whew! we had a time coming up with an appropriate word here) it was because the cheesecake was purchased over 25 miles away and then sent by special messenger (another friend) the rest of the way here.

As she explained and as you can see from the above photos, the item was not really a cheesecake of your advertised standards. Cheesecake is not cheap! We believe you owe her friend a replacement cheesecake. And don't forget one for Jan for quality testing and flunking your product for you -- but definitely one without chocolate! Did we mention we Funny Farmers aren't allowed to have chocolate?

We hope you have replaced your keyboard and are now able to answer emails, as we will be anxiously awaiting your reply, along with a non-chocolate cheesecake. Did we mention Funny Farmers aren't allowed to have chocolate? We already did? Okay. Just so that's clear.

Your cheesecake loving friends,
The Funny Farmers
Crystal, Cotton, Merci, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron, Buddy, Rusty & Samaritan

*****We added the following to today's post because we feel it is encouraging and important, as Ben the Rottie will be holding a week-long fundraiser with fun, competition and prizes. Visit the Ao4 for the link to Ben's. *****

Please stop by and read the Army of 4's post on the Nowzad Dogs. It is heartwarming to learn there is actually a group rescuing dogs in Afghanistan.

Skeezix and Funny Farmers

This is from our Sept. 4 post. Our prize arrived the day after we wrote "Last Post" and only hours before we became very busy notifying everyone Jan had repented .... uh, we mean, relented about retiring us (thanks, every kitty, woofie, hammie and human).

We, who never win anything, won a prize in Skeezix's Snuzzy comment contest. The Reality TV Handbook. We might give it to Jan for Halloween since we kitties and woofies already know how to do neat things, such as swallow a live bug. But this could be life-changing information for her! What a lovely prize for us to share with Jan. She's gonna love it! We're thinking we should give her a few live bugs with the book, just to start her off. After that, she'll have to catch her own bugs.

Crystal: I was the first to arrive, with Percy hot on my paws. Above the travel odors, I got a slight scent of cat.



Percy: Aha! I deduced this had to be our prize book from Skeezik. The smell of catnip was overpowering, even through the double bubble wrap envelopes. Who would have guessed he would send a book made from catnip?



Cyndi: We laid the items out. The book. (Jan doesn't know yet we're going to give it to her.) A postcard of Skeezix. A Skeezix pin. A Catster pin. (Jan definitely gets both of those! We can't wear pins.) And a decal and bookmark.



Cotton: I could smell the catnip but Crystal wouldn't let me near it.



Crystal: No one thought this old man had it in him but I claimed the entire bag of catnip as my own. And Jan had a time wrestling it away from me, even to take photos.



Cameron, walking away in disgust: Well, no use hanging around. Might as well wait until Crystal's ripped open the bag so we can all have some.



Rusty: Hey, why didn't someone wake me up and let me know you were finally going to open the package? I missed the photo session!

JFF kitties: Thank you, Skeezix. This is really nice. We were just expecting the book.

And now, we're off to catch some crickets to wrap with the book. Boy, is Jan ever going to be surprised. She's going to love this self-help present! She won't have to spend money buying meat at the store any more.

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We were very honored and surprised to find Skeezix declared yesterday Funny Farm Friday.

We hope you will take a minute to stop by and read his post, as he expressed very well one of the major problems of blogging - time constraints. And while you're there, read some more posts, leave a message, donate a ham ... You know, be neighborly.

Skeezy, We all send {{{{hugs}}}} back to you and your mom. And thank you for sharing your own experience us.

(s) "The Funny Farmers" (We kinda like that name, Skeez.)
Crystal, Cotton, Merci, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron, Buddy, Rusty & Samaritan

Roscoe, Review and Award

Monday would have been Opus & Roscoe's 13th birthday celebration. Unfortunately, Roscoe died last week, so Opus is holding a wake in celebration of his brother's life. Everyone is invited to participate with memories, photos, a card or a poem. You can read about the details on Cat Naps in Italy.

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We finished a book a couple of months ago that we were supposed to review but, unfortunately, we found it buried in the to-do pile, so we’re a little late. Since all the others blogged on it a while ago, perhaps someone new will read this late one. We hope so, because then we aren't late, we're on time.

The book is Under the Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man by Tom Cox. It’s published by Simon & Shuster UK.

First of all, if you think this is going to be one of those cutesy stories of baby talk and snuggles, you’ll be disappointed. It’s written from the point of view of a man, specifically one who seems confused as to how he ended up becoming a cat person. But then, many would be confused too, if their first major adult encounter with a cat was with a pseudo psycho one named The Bear which belonged to a girlfriend’s ex.

Tom tells about his male cat named Janet (so named by mistake), Monty, Shirley, Ralph, etc. As you can probably guess, The Bear comes to hold a special place in his heart. Such is the magic of a feline’s wiles.

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Team Tabby graciously gave us a couple of awards.

We would like to pass these on to Zoolatry, The Meezers (Sammy, Miles & Billy), and the Ballicus Blog (Chairman Mao, Brainball, Dorydoo & Marilyn).

Karl's Dare

It has taken some doing but we finally figured out a way to accept Karl's dare before it expires on Saturday. We have seen some innovative ideas around the blogosphere, but we were having a problem coming up with our own "creative, fun, useful way to save the environment."

Rusty, staring in disgust: You expect me to drink this? It's just water in a bowl. It doesn't do anything. No dripping, whirling, swerving. It just sits there and stares back at me.

We've been telling Jan we need a water fountain. But in the interest of the environment, **sigh, hic, sob** we'll all forego our dream.

Sam: What's he whining about? Jan wasn't going to buy us one an....

Percy, paw to chest, breathing hard: Ooomph!

Sam: ...yway. Ouch! Crystal, you bunny-kicked me!

Crystal: Sorry, Percy. That was an accident. I was aiming for Sam. How can we brag about helping the environment when Sam is telling everyone .... Never mind. He's already done it.

Merci: Here I am posing with my idea.

Buddy: So what is it and why do you look like you're about to be attacked?

Merci: I had Jan unplug the night lights to save a little electricity.

Cyndi: That sounds like a good idea. But like Buddy asked, why do you look like you're about to be attacked?

Merci: Well, you know what happens without them. Jan can't see where she's going and she steps on any of us in her path!

Cameron: Can we scratch this one off the list?

Crystal: No, Cameron. Merci's already told everyone about it. We'll just have to stop sleeping where she can step on us.

Cotton: We can always get her a pair of night goggles.

Buddy: And here's our idea.

Cyndi: What is it? You two are just sitting there.

Sam: We're posing with our bags of food.

Cotton: And? What's so unusual about this?

Sam: We have Jan stocking up large bags of food so she has to make fewer trips to the store.

Percy: Jan has always bought large bags of food for us.

Sam: Yes, but notice there are TWO bags of dog food there and ....

Percy: And only ONE bag of cat food! And it's almost empty. We're running out of food, guys. We're going to starve, just faint from hunger! Jan will find our poor shriveled bodies .....

Buddy: Shhhh. Here comes Jan.

Cameron: And she's carrying in a big bag of cat food.

Percy, with paw on brow: Oh, she's just in time. We could have died while she was gone.

Cotton: Percy, you should never have joined the CCSI Santa Caper cast. You've been a ham ever since!

JFF: Thank you, Mr. Chen, for coming up with the winning dare idea.

Post Ike Galveston

5:00 PM UPDATE: The page of photos has been removed.


Our friend Mark (yes, he's still talking to us after yesterday's post) sent us an email with a link to some post-Hurricane Ike photos and said it is okay to post them. Galveston has extensive damage, as do other areas hit by Ike. Usually, we would say, enjoy. But today, we ask you to pray for those whose homes and livelihood have been destroyed, as well as though whose homes have survived but are without electricity and many necessities.

There used to be a button here to view photos of Galveston Island, Surfside Texas Crystal Beach, Port Bolivar and Houston.

Pop Rod, Trip Jan

Well, thanks to the Meezers (and a few non-Meezers meezering) we had what has to be the shortest retirement in history! Retired Sunday - back Monday. Thank you all for your input. Jan now knows not to mess with our journal!

And while Jan is outside whacking weeds, we have a short story for you. Our idea of a short story is all truth. No, wait, it's some truth, some fiction. Or is it all fiction? See, we were retired so long we've forgotten our own writing rules. Anyway, you can figure out which is which.

Cotton: Hey, Cyndi, look at this email from Jan's friend Mark. It must be about one of his friends.

Cyndi, reading aloud: Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, "Oh, no! He's awake!"

Cameron, reading over her shoulder: I guess if that Satan guy was around here this morning, he'd be laughing, 'What a klutz! Jan's tripped and fallen!"

Cotton: Cameron, that only happened once. Well, if you only count when she first gets up in the morning, it was only once. And that was because she tripped over a drapery rod.

Cyndi: It's okay. That Satan guy doesn't live in our neighborhood and he couldn't get in quietly if he did. Not with Buddy, Merci and Sam on the premises. They could wake the dead with the racket they make when a leaf rustles.

Cameron: Don't worry. We don't have a peeping Satan in this area.

Cyndi: A peeping Satan? What's that?

Cameron: You know that old tomcat down the street? I think his name is Tom. Well, if he peeked in someone's window, he would be a peeping Tom. I would be a peeping Cameron. (Not that I'd ever do such a thing!) So Mark's friend would be a peeping Satan.

Cotton: Well, we don't have to worry about a peeping Tom or Satan watching Jan fall out of bed in the morning. We keep our windows covered.

Cameron: Oh, how quickly you forget! In case you've forgotten, a certain anonymous kitty - aka Crystal - pulled down the drapery rod around 2 a.m. Jan still hasn't replaced it, so the window is not covered. All this peeping guy would need to do is bring his own ladder and ..... Where are you going, Cotton?

Cotton: Come on, Cyndi. We need to replace that drape ASAP! Just in case Jan takes another trip tomorrow morning.

Cameron, shaking his head: Girls, I wasn't done talking! Just for that, I'm going to go ask Crystal to show me how to pop the rod. This could be a daily event. Pop rod, trip Jan, watch Cotton and Cyndi replace drape. I could sell tickets. Well, this boring day has just gotten more interesting.

Psssssssssst, Meezers

Psssssssssst, Meezers. All of you, but especially young Billy. Can you cry a little louder? Your sobs are breaking down Jan's resolve. Especially right after Opus & Cyndi's messages.

Jan told us very few bloggers would notice if we retired, but that we were to be polite and leave a last post for anyone who might stop by so they wouldn't keep looking for us to post. She's surprised so many of you have come by and left a comment.

Now she's feeling guilty. (Well, she should! This is our blog!) And she's melting. But don't tell her we posted this. We aren't supposed to be on the computer today. But we wanted to let you know .....

Jan: Guys, come here a minute. I want to apologize for making you close your journal. I didn't realize you had so many friends who would miss you. So, I've been thinking .....

Buddy: Yes? You were saying?

Jan: Oh, right. I've been thinking that maybe I was too hasty and if you give me a few days to work some things out, perhaps you can re-open JFF. But you'll have to cut down on your blogging time. Is that okay with you guys?

JFF: Yes, Jan.

Jan: Okay, then, you can let your friends know you'll be back soon. Don't even ask that, Buddy!

Buddy: What? I didn't say anything!

Jan: You had the "I'm going to drive Jan crazy with questions look" in your eyes. I'll let you know when you can start posting regularly again. Now, go let your friends know. And please tell the Meezers to stop sobbing. I can't bear to hear cats cry, especially when one is a baby.

Psssssssssst! Thanks, Sammy, Miles & Billy. You heard what she said. We'll be back. We hope soon. Our paws are itching to get back to the keyboard. We already had a couple of posts ready when we were forcibly retired and today we received our prize package from Skeezix ....

So keep your reading glasses handy! We're coming back.

Buddy: Whatever made her think 9 talkative animals could "retire"?

Percy, tapping his paw on his heart: Insanity, Buddy, insanity. It's inherited, you know. She got it from us.

Last Post

This is a very sad day for all of us. We are retiring from blogging and this is our last post.

We have had some fun and met some nice blogging kitties, woofies, hamsters and rabbits. It was a pleasure to know each one of you. Many thanks to any who have visited regularly. And also to any who have dropped by occasionally.

We hope we gave you an occasional smile and perhaps a morsel of helpful information on occasion.

We wish you all well. And perhaps we'll meet again one day....

Carol Crocker's Rescue

We would like to introduce you to a wonderful woman in Alabama. She has vetted and cared for animals brought to her by folks in a rural area without a local shelter. The number of dogs is currently 101, including some with special needs.

The area is being developed, neighbors complained and the very county responsible for bringing many of these animals to her has taken her to court and she has to get rid of all but 3 dogs or they will be confiscated and killed.

She lost a number of dogs and cats when her home burned to the ground last year and she can't afford to rebuild, so she has lived in her garage and taken showers with a hose. But the animals have not suffered neglect.

She has not requested anything for herself, only homes for the dogs before they are confiscated. Help is arriving.

Drop by and read some of Carol Crocker's story.

We googled Carol and found the fire that destroyed the Alabama shelter was arson.


***** Important Mars pet food update*****

Mars Pet Food Recall Announced 9/12/08

Mars Pet Food announced a voluntary recall of many brands of dog food and cat food on 9/12/08 due to "potential contamination with Salmonella". The recall only affects products sold in the United States.

Products affected include Old Roy Dog Food, Pedigree Dog Food, Special Kitty Cat Food and several lesser known brands including Members Mark Pet Foods and Wegman's Pet Foods. The press release states: "Salmonella can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination caused by handling of the pet food, in people as well, es pecially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems."

For the full list of products and UPC code and further information visit here.

Quoting the Mars Pet Care website: "The company stopped production at the Everson facility on July 29, 2008 when it was alerted of a possible link between dry pet food produced at the plant and two isolated cases of people infected with Salmonella Schwarzengrund." Let me repeat - ‘the company stopped production on July 29, 2008'.

From Mars Pet Care's action of ‘stopping production' on July 29, 2008 - ten days later an initial limited recall was announced (Pedigree Dog Food only sold in Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada); 34 days after this, the recall was updated, now including many products sold all across the United States. A total of 44 days passed from when Mars Pet Care states they stopped production, to the recent recall announcement covering 105 different brands, sizes, and varieties of dog food and cat food.

Remember, at the Pet Food Safety meeting the FDA held this past spring, the director of the FDA proudly announced that the action response time for the pet food industry is better than that of the human food side. Hmmmm.

Mars states they are "continuing to work collaboratively with the FDA to determine the nature and source" of the salmonella. The release does not state when Mars contacted the FDA regarding the possible contamination.

If you are anyone you know is feeding their pet a dog food or cat food made by Mars Pet Care, please take notice of this recall and take the necessary precautions.

Wishing you and your pet the best,

Susan Thixton
Truth About Pet Food
Petsumer Report
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/

Nutro Pet Food

We would like to thank Milo for the award his mom made for his kitty friends.

For Crystal, Cotton, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron & Rusty


Milo's friend Brownie the hamster was pleased Milo doesn't think of him as food, but a kitty award wouldn't be appropriate for a hamster. So Milo's mom got to thinking, and then she made a special award just for Brownie and another for his woofie friends. Wasn't that sweet of her?

So this award is for Buddy, Merci & Samaritan

Tesla gave us this lovely award "fur always keepin everyone up to date on goings on- an bein real good peepolls." Thanks for taking notice, Tesla. We work overtime trying to become real good peepolls. Some days we succeed. (We won't talk about the other days.)

We worked for hours on this post last night because parts of it kept disappearing. We set it for auto-post this morning and although it posted, even more of it is missing, the most important part of this section - the 5 we are passing this award on to and why.

As many of you already know, Roscoe passed on to the bridge Tuesday. We have enjoyed the adventures of Opus & Roscoe. They have been an integral part of Sassy's CCSI from the onset. We will miss him! And so, in memory of Roscoe, we would like to pass this on to his brother Opus and some of his closest friends.

Opus
Sassy
Asta
Momo
Karl

And now for the really important news. (Anything that pertains to animal health and welfare is important.) We've been receiving information for several months now that there has been a change in the Nutro Pet Food recipe and the new ingredients have been making animals ill. Some have purportedly died. Is this true? Read the information on these 3 links (or run your own Google search) and decide for yourself whether you want your human feeding it to you.

Illness, Death Dog Nutro Pet Food

URGENT WARNING: Do NOT feed your dog Nutro!

author: IMC Medical Reporter

Nutro Pet Foods Consumers

Nutro sells both dog and cat food.

The Day America Cried

September 11, 2001. Even we kitties - Crystal and Cotton - can remember that horrible day. (The rest of us were not yet born.) It was a day of great sadness and loss of life. It will not -- and should not -- be forgotten!

The song in this video is "The Day America Cried" by Johnny Van Zant.

Farewell, Roscoe

1995 - 9/9/2008

We are deeply saddened to say good-bye to our dear friend Roscoe of Catnaps in Italy. Please stop by and leave his brother Opus and his mom Cyndi a note.

He and his brother Opus have been an integral part of CCSI productions and participants on Sassy's adventures. They had just returned from a safari in Africa.

Farewell, Roscoe. We love you and miss you already.

Click here to light a candle for Roscoe.

Roscoe Is Sick

This beautiful graphic was done by Zoolatry.

We are very concerned about our friend Roscoe. We received word last night he is ill, and this morning a message came from his mom. Since it is printed in its entirety on the CB's Purrs & Purrayers site, we are not going to print it here.

Roscoe, we have enjoyed your adventures with Sassy, Momo, Karl & Ruis as much as we have enjoyed traveling or partying with you on occasion.

You, Opus, your mom & dad are in our thoughts and prayers. Get well, sweet friend. We love you.


We picked this get well candle graphic up at Sassy's. If you would like to use this graphic and/or Zoolatry's, please feel free to post one or both.

And since Roscoe's mom is busy taking care of him and making sure his brother Opus gets attention too, you can check Opus & Roscoe's blog or their good friend Sassy's blog for periodic updates.

Texas and Friends

Lymphoma has been taking a lot of our friends, and yesterday it was Texas' time to leave for the bridge. Please stop by and leave a message for his family, who already miss him very much.

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We are very pleased to receive the following award from Cats~Goats~Quotes. Thanks for passing this on to the Funny Farm. We love your blog too, but mostly we love your heart for animals in need of a home.


The instructions are to pass it on to seven more,to put on their blogs, or not.

The rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours, and
5. Leave a message on the blogs that you've nominated

We aren't sure if we are awarding it to any who have already received it, but --

Chairman Mao.
Chef.
Jeter.
Momo & Pinot (who recently got a new baby "brudder").
Tesla.
River.
Georgia, Indy & Zoe.

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From the Taylor CatSSSSS.

We aren't going to pass this on since we've received this before, but we would like to thank the Taylor Nuthouse (Auntie Deb called them that, not us) -- uh, we mean the Taylor CatSSSSS for passing this on to us. Thank you Spats, Sam, Seaborne, Sassy and Summer.

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And we can't forget this last note. We, who never win anything, won a prize in Skeezix's Snuzzy comment contest. The Reality TV Handbook.

We can't wait to receive it. We might give it to Jan for Halloween since we kitties and woofies already know how to do neat things, such as swallow a live bug. But this could be life-changing information for her!

Oh, lucky us. We are finally winners! What a lovely prize for us to share with Jan. She's gonna love it!

We're thinking we should give her a few live bugs with the book, just to start her off? After that, she'll have to catch her own bugs. What do you think about this?