Thursday, September 30, 2010

Hammock, Litter and Flea Products

Tamar of CatAbove.com has cats of her own and volunteers with C.A.T.in Wilmington, NC. "The Cat Adoption Team (C.A.T.) is a non-profit, state licensed no kill cat rescue organization, dedicated to finding homes for cats & kittens and to educating the public in reducing the cat over-population through spaying and neutering.

Tamar's cat hammock, which she sees as a means to fundraising for cats, is among the 6 finalists in a design contest. Voting runs Sept 29 through Fri, Oct 1. You only need to vote once.


Cat Hammock for Apartment Therapy from Tamar G on Vimeo.

If the video doesn't play -- and to read more about this cat hammock -- click here.

To vote, go here, scroll down to  "Vote for your favorite," ( We tried to get an answer from Tamar as to why the voting area is grayed out so we can't vote, but after Khyra ran into the same problem, she discovered you have to register in order to vote. If they want you to sign up to vote, they should say sign up to vote, not register to "take survey." Very poor voting site directions, if you ask us.)

We hope you will take a moment to go vote for Tamar's cat hammock and help C.A.T. win $100.



We had a couple of emails asking if a vote was counted because nothing happened when a shelter was picked at the World's Best Cat Litter voting site.  We couldn't answer the question because we'd already voted that day but we checked today and what happens is -

We clicked on the white circle to the upper left of the shelter we wanted to vote for and our vote went through. The page changed to the message, "Come back tomorrow to vote again."   If this doesn't happen, it must be your browser settings. http://www.givelitter.com/


Cats and Dogs Naturally has a good article on how to tell counterfeit flea products.  This is especially useful information if you shop online.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Help GiveLitter to Shelters

No, the title isn't a typo.  We're blogging today on the GiveLitter program.

We want to encourage you to take a moment from your busy schedule to help World's Best Cat Litter give litter to deserving shelters. All you have to do is vote once a day for one of the three current shelters in the Los Angeles area. Round 2 runs from Sept 8 through Nov 8.

It doesn't cost anything to vote. Each vote is worth 1/10 of a pound of litter. The more votes, the more litter will be given away. The really nice thing about this is that all 3 shelters will be a winner. The final total of litter will be divided between the 3 shelters according to the percentage of their votes.

To vote visit www.givelitter.com or the WBCL Charity page on Facebook.

You can also help the shelters by spreading the word. Tell your friends. Share on Twitter, Facebook, or write a blog post on the GiveLitter program.

You can pick up a badge for your blog or web page here.

We're still laying low while Jan works on some new designs.  Jan's brother picked out our much needed new video card (we won't mention that Jan doesn't have a clue how to pick out one that would work with our monitor) and it should arrive today, so hopefully we will soon be able to visit some of the blogs with a lot of graphics again.  And perhaps Jan can stop crabbing at photoshop elements for not doing what she tells it to. Still, she has managed to make a few Halloween designs, mainly for cards.  We had a bad storm here Sunday and Jan took a photo of the storm clouds to make one.  You can see the new designs at our Zazzle store

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Chamberlin and Molly

You might remember Chamberlin, the dog who survived two months alone in a yard with no food, water or companionship while the weeds grew up around him and he disappeared from view, an abandoned, forgotten dog.  When he was finally found he could not even stand up, could barely lift his head. But he's getting some muscle mass in his rear legs and has some energy now, thanks to the wonderful care and physical therapy he's getting.

The owners of the home were a couple who split and just moved off leaving Chamberlin tied to a tree. They were arrested, released and will be in court October 29 to face 2 counts of animal cruelty, which at this time is currently only a misdemeanor where they live.  As of December 1, animal cruelty will be a felony there.

In case you missed it, this is an earlier video of Chamberlin.



If the video won't play, click here. If you wonder what Susie's Fund is, it is the reason Chamberlin is receiving the help he needs.

Unfortunately - if you can even imagine such a thing - there was a second dog found in the house and he had to be euthanized because he was in even worse condition than Chamberlin.

This is Chamberlin after some physical therapy.  Quite a difference!



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We are reading more stories of abandoned animals.  Folks just walk away and leave animals behind.  This needs to be a felony.  And those who do this should be forced in public court to watch a video of the animal's condition -- dead or alive -- when finally rescued.  And the court should order them to repay every penny of the animal's rescue, care and rehabilitation.



Molly of Cat's Cats was helped to the bridge Thursday. She had a good, long life, nearly 19 years, with her family but it was still hard for them to say good-bye.  We're late posting this because, as usual, Jan has been hogging the computer.  She's been trying to make more designs for our zazzle store but since our computer doesn't have a video card right now, it's a struggle.  So we've been laying low, but we do want to acknowledge Molly's passing and her family's pain.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

17 Dogs Left to Drown, Rescued

We were sent a link last night about 17 poodle-mix dogs that were left kenneled in what might be a puppy mill during flooding in Brownsville, Texas.  The owner(s) evacuated to save their own hide but left the dogs to drown.  Fortunately, the dogs were rescued in time - they were up to their neck in water - but they spent at least 24 hours in the water and some were suffering from hypothermia.  You can read the story here.

The dogs are currently at the local animal shelter but they will be returned to their owner.  No charges will be filed because the Sheriff and District Attorney's office decided the animals are well cared for, being abandoned "unintentionally" is not a crime, etc.

However ....

We have received a copy of a press release regarding this case.  Please notice the name and office of the person releasing it.  More elected officials and law enforcement officers need to take animal neglect, cruelty and abandonment more seriously. Way too often, laws passed to protect animals are ignored and official refuse to prosecute. Puppy mill owners are undoubtedly celebrating the fact the law has said there is no reason to prosecute the humans who abandoned the animals.

Thank you for saying differently, Pat, and for standing up for the animals!

Press Release

September 23, 2010

Re: Inhumane treatment of animals and prosecution
Just read the Herald article where the Sheriff is not planning to file charges against the owners of the 17 dogs abandoned. If true, this says a lot about the sheriff and the DA's Office, which should cause all pet owners and pet advocates to withdraw their support. I urge all to call the Sheriff at 956-554-6700 or 440-8441 and the DA's office 544-0849 requesting the revisit his matter and prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law with the harshest punishment allowed. Under no circumstances can this case be ignored or dismissed. They both need to value animals. Leaving pets kenneled up in a flood to drown is a crime!!!!

How is it that the owners took off to escape the flood waters, but left all these dogs kenneled up to drown. Why not take them to a pet facility to keep them until it is safe to return. Were all these dogs vaccinated? Is this a puppy mill? Are they paying taxes on money earned from selling dogs? Do they have a permit to operate a puppy mill? These and other questions come to mind that the DA and the Sheriff's department should be investigating.

We do not want puppy mills in Cameron County. We do not tolerate inhumane treatment of pets. We ask that violators be prosecuted to the fullest and ask both the DA and Sheriff to revisit this matter asap.

Thank you,
Pat Ahumada
Brownsville Texas Mayor

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Coon, Bird and Skip

In January we wrote a post on our New woofie Names -- Watch Where You're Going, Stop Yanking & Don't Step On My Toe.


Sam, Merci & Buddy

Today we'd like to tell you about our other woofie names.

Before Jan's injured toe became infected and she could barely walk for the first few months of 2010, we used to walk her up the hill and to the end of the street twice a day.  Now she's a wimp and can't climb the hill so we have to do two half laps twice a day on more level ground instead of one long one.  There is one old man up the hill who used to greet us whenever we walked by.  One day he mentioned since he didn't know our names, he'd bestowed his own.

Coon, Bird and Skip.  Can you figure out which of us is which? 

The man said Buddy sounds like his daddy's old coon dog.

Sam is obviously a Pointer (mix) - a bird dog.

And although we'll never know what breeds Merci is, it doesn't matter.  Cars used to stop so the driver could tell Jan Merci is limping.  But there is nothing wrong with Merci.  She doesn't limp, she skips when she walks, especially when she's happy.

Now Coon, Bird and Skip we can live with.  But Watch Where You're Going, Stop Yanking & Don't Step On My Toe  have to go.



We are sad.  Sniffie of Friends Forever blog had to leave for the bridge Tuesday morning.  We thought/hoped she would have more time.  It is so hard to say good-bye but eventually the time comes when we have to let go because that's a part of loving them.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Canine Duplicates



What are the odds the day would come someone would waken Jan early in the morning to ask if she has 3 dogs she keeps outside - a brown hound, a white hunting dog, and another dog.

Yes, this actually happened yesterday. Jan didn't believe we were barking at someone but there was a neighbor woman Jan hadn't met at the door asking about the three dogs. The neighbor found them on her carport when she opened her back door. Jan is not a morning person so she stood on the porch in her robe thinking, But I just put them outside to talk to you. 

She looked across the street.  A brown hound came around the bushes, followed by a white and liver hunting dog (with bigger splotches).  And then a long-haired, dark dog came flying around the neighbor's house in hot pursuit of the neighbor's cat.  The neighbor didn't bother with the steps.  She leaped off the porch and started running for home. Jan thought about helping but by the time she could have gotten dressed, whatever was happening would be finished. There wasn't any screeching so at least the cat was safe.

Jan was nervous when we walked her an hour later. She kept watching for the other dogs and warned another dog walker to keep her eyes open when we passed.  We don't know whether the dogs moved on or if Animal Control picked them up, but we figure they weren't welcome across the street after chasing a pet cat.

Jan still has a problem believing that happened.  Who would have guessed someone would have 3 similar dogs and they'd end up across the street early one morning?  Since Jan put us in our backyard pen after we woke her, we saw the dogs and all we can say is we don't think that other dog looked anything like Merci.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Savannah and Fennec

Well, it's Merry Monday again and we found a cute post to make your humans smile as they begin another work week. Savannah kitten and a Fennec fox pup playing. Look at those ears! The pup's ears. 



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We know we've been missing quite a bit again but Jan has been doing some setup to get back to making designs for our zazzle store so we can eat.  Yesterday she managed to redo a couple and make a Missing You card.

We're sorry we missed Talk like a Pirate Day yesterday.  We're so far behind we were thinking it was next Sunday. 

Hope you all have a purring and tail wagging day.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Adopt a Merci

I'm Merci. I was a shelter dog. This is one of the photos Jan saw before she came by to adopt me.  I didn't look very adoptable, did I? 

But I was one of the lucky ones. Millions of animals go through shelters each year and many of them aren't adopted. Please adopt a shelter dog. We make very good furry friends.

We post this today because it's the final day of the Pedigree Adoption Drive and we would like to help shelter dogs too. So we are writing this post. For every blog that writes a post about their adoption drive from now until today September 19, Pedigree will donate a TWENTY pound bag of their brand new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to a shelter. It’s really as easy as that! Write about an awesome cause and and shelters nationwide will receive a large donation of food. I’m super excited about it and I hope you will be too! .
Now we're going to go over to I Love Rescue Animals and enter our post before it's too late.  We've been trying to get this up for two days. 

And remember to adopt a shelter pet. 

Friday, September 17, 2010

Cameron's Update and Prizes

Hey, remember me?  I'm Cameron and I'm going to do a quick post while Jan grabs something to eat.

It has been really busy around here this week.  Since we've been offline while Jan hogs the computer, we've been bored and working hard at driving Jan to drink.  Okay, so she's only swigging iced tea, but isn't that drinking? She's been setting up some hardware and moving files and .... Ho hum, booooring!  But she is going to make us some new designs for our Zazzle store. She promised.

Our big news is that our prizes from two giveaways have arrived.

If you remember, we won the book How To Take Over Teh Wurld at Us4Cats. We haven't quite figured out how to do this yet.  We're thinking the how to take over the world details must be written in secret code.  Cause the book is funny but there's no cat revolution or uprising mentioned.  We enjoyed reading it - the pictures are funny - and we are thinking of donating it to the CB to auction off for a kitty in need.  That way another kitty household will get to read it.

When we visited Us4Cats today, we found they are in a dilemma after learning some unexpected information  over placing a litter of kittens.  Please visit them.  If you have some advice or can help, especially if you live in KY, please leave a comment on their post Need Advice.


And our cute pair of pillow cases arrived today from Ozark Mountain Cats.  We were winners in their MO-Cats Day giveaway.  Our prize is the third pair of pillow cases down, the blue ones with the cute dogs on them.  We're now concentrating very hard on growing more hair so we'll have more to shed on our new pillow cases when Jan uses them. (Aren't we thoughtful!)

Well, I hear footsteps so I better sign off now.  Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

93 Breeder Dogs and Ghost Dog

It seems as if some people who don't really like dogs or cats or ferrets or whichever animal go into the business of breeding them. Maybe there needs to be an intelligence test given before licensing. Do you believe furries feel pain .... fear .... cold ... extreme heat .... enjoy being crammed into cramped, dirty quarters ...? If the answer is no, can we subject you to the above extremes before allowing you to breed? Can you give at least five recent furry friend references? Questions along those lines. This might weed out some who should never breed. Um, we mean should never become a breeder.

Doggies and kitties, we wish we could sic all of you - and us too - on the guy in this story so we could sink our teeth and claws into his butt. He built a "gas chamber" to kill 78 breeder dogs and 15 puppies rather than vet them.

We don't understand why the Sheriff needs to find legal reason to file criminal charges. "By killing his own dogs, Yoder violated a New York law which prohibits individuals from using engine exhaust fumes to kill cats or dogs." Isn't that reason enough?

"Yoder admits that the fumes gave him a headache, and he had to leave the area while the dogs were being killed." We can't dredge up a speck of compassion for him. Those dogs suffered.

Even though the breeder has relinquished his license, he should not be allowed to walk away from a mass killing of breeding dogs and puppies, especially in such a horrible way. A large fine and jail time will not bring back those animals or forgive him the cruel imbecility of killing them in such a manner, but he fully deserves both.

You can read the story here.

This morning Jan was searching for an important document and came across a page of old notes mixed in with genealogical records. The first scribbling on the paper just seemed so appropriate to what Yoder did. We have no idea where she heard this, but -

If somebody in this audience doesn't think this is wrong, somewhere a village is missing their idiot.

On the other hand, some very kind humans rescued the emaciated German Shepherd that had been used as a bait dog and was in such bad shape he was scheduled to be euthanized. Once dubbed "Ghost Dog."the canine now named Phoenix has risen from the ashes of his past life and although he will always bear the scars, he will survive. You can read his story here.

We haven't disappeared.  Jan has been hogging the computer and working hard to set up some computer associated hardware and software.  She concentrates so intensely if the phone rings or one of us dogs bark - any sudden noise - she either drops something or screeches or both.   So we're laying low. 

Monday, September 13, 2010

Are You Stupid, Nooooo

It's so late it's early here but before we hit the carpet, we want to post a Merry Monday video so your humans can start their work week with a smile.

Mishka the talking Sibe answers the question, Are you stupid?



If the video doesn't play, click here.

Have a purring and tail wagging day.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Wheel of Fortune

Dennis the Vizsla dog spun his "weel of fortchoon" and we were among the recipients of his latest award.

Oops. Guess we should have remembered to post this award graphic the first time we published.  :(



The rules of this award are to link back to Dennis (already done) and to tell 10 things that make us happy. Okay.

1.  Picking on Jan
2.  Stealing Jan's food... uh, we mean, eating our meals.
3.  Playing with things Jan tells us not to.
4.  Napping in the walking path so Jan has to either go around us or we can jump up and trip her.
5.  Picking on Jan.  Already mentioned? Sorry, but it's so much fun we have to list it again.
6.  Sticking our faces right up into the camera lens when Jan wants to take a picture.
7.  Running away when Jan wants to take a picture.
8.  Tracking mud into the house. (woofies)
9.  Vomiting hairballs on Jan's paperwork. (kitties)
10. Did we mention picking on Jan?  We think this should have been listed first.

Now we have to pass it along to 10 friends.  We wish we could pass it along to Ariel. We miss her since she stopped blogging and hope she returns.  Her posts were such fun.

1.  Alasandra and the Cats
2.  Khyra & sometimes Cousin Merdie
3.  The Taylor Cats
4.  Lorenza
5.  Missy, KC & the Sherwoods
6.  Martha & Bailey
7.  Tober, Thornton Library Cat
8.   The Op Pack
9.   Casper
10. Asta

And that's it, folks.  Have a great day.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Purring Squirrel

Jan is so far behind she can't catch up to herself, so we're kind of banned from the computer for a couple of days while she tries to make a dent in the mountain. She hasn't even had time to add prices to Jan's Funny Farm Fair. Or to make new designs for our Zazzle store. But we don't want you to think we have forgotten you, so we're posting this cute video a friend just sent us.  We know you will enjoy it.




If the video doesn't play, click here.

We were one of the winners of the Ozark Mountain Cats' MO-Cats Day contest.  We're real excited about this because it means Jan can't complain about us getting furs on her pillow any more.

Have a fun weekend.  We're planning to catch up on our sleep.  If we can, we'll sneak in another post.

PS -- We apologize for turning on comment moderation, which we hate, but we are getting spammed again.  Yesterday it was an escort service and today was the last straw. Blogger has been making wise decisions as to what constitutes spam with their new system,.but the escort did slip by them.  :)  We're a family blog.  We hope this will only be temporary.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Computer Maintenance Dept of Your OS

Percy


Jan had a strange telephone call Thursday and we'd like to share it with our readers since it deals with something we're all using - a computer.  You all know the evils of the internet and how scammers, spammers, hijackers, hackers and phishers abound, floating around in a sea of viruses.  So before we go out there, we put on our armor of antivirus, two-way firewall, malware mace, spam helmet, use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, etc.  And still the bad guys invent new bolt cutters and artillery to crash through our perimeters.

That's why we leave a comment for blogs when we notice something unusual such as popups that try to lock the visitor to the blog or those stupid popunders for Facebook game applications or Gamevance ads.  When our av blocks the sites of those popunders and says it has determined the sites are malicious and we have let the blogger know they exist but the ads keep popping up when we click on "comment," we listen to our av and stop leaving comments. We do the best we can to keep our computer healthy.

Still, we're all constantly being told that even if you have an av, your computer can become infected.  The bad guys hear this too and so they have evidently come up with a new technique (new to us anyway) to fix our problems before we actually have any.  A just-in-time phone call from your friendly Computer Maintenance Dept. for your Operating System.  Bet you didn't know your computer could be guarded by such a thing, did you?

When Jan hears a strange voice, she grabs pen and paper and starts taking notes, so the following conversation is a compilation of the conversation because Jan asked the guy the same questions so many times he was running out of different ways to explain the reason he was calling. Never once did he give a company name, name the OS, or come right out and say it was Microsoft (because of course it was NOT MS) but the inference was there. Can you picture MS calling us Funny Farmers to tell us we have a problem and they can fix it -- for FREE? 

We'll let Jan tell you about it -


The caller had a very heavy accent that I could barely understand. He ID'd himself as Mumble, Mumble of the Computer Maintenance Dept of "your" (meaning my) operating system, which makes no sense.  Said he was calling because they've had so many error reports from my web browsing.  That I have been downloading infected files, my OS has been badly corrupted with malicious programs without my knowledge, and my computer is 60 - 70% not working.  This would get worse and my computer is going to crash.  I said he had the wrong number but then he asked for me by name. 


Ever since the new power supply was installed, my computer has been working great and I have been using Vipre av and fw since last December.  I also occasionally run a scan with the free Malwarbytes program.   I asked him repeatedly who he was and why he was calling and the closest he got to naming my OS was "Windows OS." Never which one, which in itself is suspicious because if he was getting all these error reports, shouldn't he know the OS?
 

To prove my computer is screaming with pain from all the malware, he directed me to Manage/ Event Views/Applications to see all the red errors and warnings.  Well, yeah, there were a number but they went back to early April.  He said to not click on anything there because they were all malicious.  He told me several times to go online with IE and then tell him what is my home page. I don't use IE and I wasn't about to go online for a stranger.  I asked why he wanted me to and why it had to be with IE. and he finally said he was going to send me somewhere they could help me fix this problem before my computer crashes.
 

This was as far as I could go to find out who he was and what he wanted. I wish I could have learned who he really represented so I could report the company. I told him I don't know him and I don't trust him, so he said he was going to put his supervisor on the line to talk to me.  I hung up. If I didn't trust him, why would I trust his supervisor? He promptly called back and called out for me on the answering machine.  

I didn't answer.  I was online looking for the Sunbelt Live Chat page, where I reported this to a nice lady who pointed me to the Sunbelt blog and an email address where I could again report it and the word could be spread. As she said, every computer has errors and warnings in the Event Viewer and this is someone preying on people who don't know what is in the Event Viewer. She suggested making a note of the phone number. This is one of those times I wished I had Caller ID. I will still look into where this might be reported (such as the newspapers) because I can just imagine scared computer users - especially the elderly - going online, giving their homepage and letting this guy "fix" their nonexistent malicious program problems. 


Okay, guys, I'm done.  Thanks for letting me borrow your blog to help spread the word about this crappy means of trying to scare folks into doing something stupid, just like the callers who convince folks to give out their SS number or other valuable data.  And if you haven't heard of this type of phone call before, tell your mother, your neighbors, your family and friends so they won't get suckered.


Well, we don't have anything to add to what Jan said, so we'll go take a nap and see you tomorrow.

Excerpts from this post are featured on the Sunbelt Blog today. You can read their post here.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sam and Mo-Cat Day

Sam

We understand the Ozark Mountain Cats believe the whole blogsphere is celebrating Missouri Cat Day today.  So they are having a contest and have offered a prize to a brave woofie who's put a Mo-Cat Day graphic on his blog.  Well, three of us are woofies here and we're not ashamed to celebrate Mo-Cat Day with our feline siblings. 

See, Missouri Ozark Cats - here is our graphic.

Last year Derby started Mo-Cats Day in response to A Day Without Cats on the Internet.  This year Derby and Ducky have declared Mo-Cats Day an annual event.  We're going to help by declaring this post in honor of our Funny Farmer cats - Cotton, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron and Rusty.

And we all decided to put even more cats on this post.  Yes, more.  We have a cat video.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

There's no way those no-cat bloggers can keep mo-cat bloggers off the internet today or any day.  Especially when they have woofie protection.

Oh, and if you want to learn the history of Mo-Cat Day, Nikita and Elvira posted it here.

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Buddy Meets EverMore

Buddy  

This is one of my favorite subjects - food.   Today Merci, Sam and I are going to do a taste test and review of EverMore Dog Food, chicken recipe.  Jan likes the list of ingredients, but we dogs have the last word since we get to decide whether or not we like the food.

EverMore is a new "yuppy gourmet" company on the market. We're not sure what yuppy means but since they make pet food we figure it must be related to "yappy." Evermore is a gourmet, slow cooked, regionally sourced and pet food company, which is owned by Alison Wiener and Hanna Mandelbaum. Their pet food is human grade.

We decided to try a slightly different review this time.  A video.  We aren't the best video makers but we hope you enjoy this.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

We invite you to visit EverMore Pet Food and learn more about the company. We enjoyed their blog post about chasing and catching a lost dog and thereby rescuing a dog and a wedding. You can read it for yourself here.

And by the way, I do a pretty good nonchalant act with the food bowl, don't I?

Oh, I need to add that EverMore provided the food we reviewed but we were not paid for for doing it.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Merry Monday on Tuesday

We know it's Tuesday but yesterday was a holiday so we thought we would bring you Merry Monday on Tuesday for those humans going back to work today.

There's a cute video going around of a dog swimming with a dolphin. So we thought we would bring you a video of a cat and a dolphin.



If the video doesn't play, click here.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Furry Safe Driving and Weekend Blogging

We want to share this video with you today. The video as a whole is the perfect example of why humans should turn over the keys to their vehicles and let us furries drive.



If the video doesn't play, you can view it here.

Human drivers are ditzy, distracted and dangerous! We furries, on the other hand, are safe, and sane. In fact, we have a good example of furry good driving. We once borrowed Jan's car to farm Michael Vick.  (In case you need a definition of "farm," Buddy was very upset when Vick was arrested on dog fighting charges and set out to - uh, neuter him.) So if you haven't read it before, check out what great drivers we furries are here.

We entered the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos #119 over at Nikita and Elvira's yesterday.

And also the Weekend Cat Blogging (WCB).

Go by and check out the entries.

Sunday, September 05, 2010

JFF and Wyatt and Storm

Merci

I'm glad it's my turn today since we don't have any negative news to report.  We're all just planning to take it easy and enjoy the day. 

We were pleasantly surprised to find Jan's video of jff picking the winner of our recent giveaway posted on  Funny Pet Video Blog.  We're glad it's filed under funny and not under flop.  But then the stars were so photogenic and downright cute.  Who could resist our furry faces?

Now Jan's editing is another story.  She didn't notice until after it was posted that her text page with the winner's name had disappeared when the video was finished.  If you remember, you couldn't read the wet strip of paper clearly because someone - with the initial J - shook the entry slips in a container of chicken and rice to tempt Sam to pick a winner.  We really need to send her back to the dollar store to buy a new pair of reading glasses.


We have a Wyatt and Storm video update. The resort where they are currently staying is looking for a foster family for the two labs while many are still looking for their military owner.  We sure hope they find a foster family and the owner of the dogs.



You can read the story and here.

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Percy and Kong Kickeroo

Buddy. I asked to do today's post to clear up a misconception many have of me. For years, I have been known as the "wild child" of jff. Whenever anything happens, the Funny Farmers all point at me and say, Buddy did it.

Well, I want you to know I am not alone and at last the truth is coming out. Who climbed over all the obstacles to steal whole packages of cat and dog treats and pig out?  Not me! (I would have if I could have reached those nooks and crannies.)  You can read the proof here.

And who grabbed the catnip leaf and ran off with it during the drawing for the recent giveaway?  Not me! And it was captured on video here.

Kazoku Neko sent Cotton, Cyndi, Percy, Cameron and Rusty a wrestling catnip toy called a Kong Kickeroo.  Jan put us dogs outside so we couldn't eat it before they had a chance to play with it. She found Rusty climbing over furniture and over the top of the computer so he could reach the desk where she left the package.  Before she could grab her camera, Percy leaped onto the desk, grabbed the envelope and ran.

He didn't even wait for Jan to cut the Kong off the cardboard.  He certainly had no trouble understanding it was a wrestling, kicking toy.



If the video doesn't play, you can watch it here.

Thank you, Kazolu Neko. The cats love their new toy.

And I hope I have been exonerated as the only mischief-maker among the Funny Farmers.

Update -  I totally forgot to tell you we won the giveaway at us4 cats.  They're going to send us a book telling us how to take over the world.  We intend to start by taking over Jan's computer.  Thanks, us4 cats.

Friday, September 03, 2010

Two Winning Stories

Cameron Yes, it's me again. We can only make a quick post today.

Nikita has posted the winner of his summer travel stories. (We posted our winner on 9/1) Stop by to see how he and Elvira chose the winner. It's a series of photos, so don't cheat and rush through.) Visit them here.

There is a rescue story posted on the CB's Purrs and Purrayers page, but we realize some of our readers aren't cats and so would otherwise miss this heartwarming story. Please stop by to read the tale and send a thank you to the folks involved. As you undoubtedly know, it is not generally easy to get folks to respond to a kitten in distress emergency. But this town responded to a visitor's pleas and the kitten was saved. You can read the story here.

We'll be back tomorrow. Have a great day.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Three Cat Stories

Cotton - We want to share some cat stories for you today.

First, Wednesday night was sad.  When the dogs left to walk Jan there was a dead cat lying in the road in front of our house. They didn't recognize it but they had a bad feeling.  Jan called a neighbor she knew had been feeding a cat and a litter of kittens to ask if it was her's.  They met in the road and waited protectively by the cat's body so she wouldn't be hit again until the neighbor's husband got there, picked up the cat and took her home for burial. She was pregnant when she was abandoned when her owners moved away.  She left nursing kittens behind as well as the neighbor couple that intended to spay her so she wouldn't have another litter. So she had obviously found a home and family. We don't even know her name and Jan didn't ask any questions.  It wasn't the time.

We came across this 2007 video on a team very dedicated to saving the life of a cat that had survived a dog attack and been buried alive.  We couldn't find any details because the groups' website is offline but as deep as the cat was buried, something must have collapsed and left the cat an air pocket.  The cat is safe after an all-night effort by The Emergency Animal Rescue Service near Birmingham, Alabama.  When they finally reached the cat, well, it was ready to get out of there!  And we all know not to stand between a cat and his freedom unless you really have to.  We feel sorry for the poor guy she used as a ladder but he held on and she was not only rescued safely but adopted.

Just goes to show that even though there are a lot of cruel humans in the world, there are also a lot of kind ones. 



If the video doesn't play, click here.

And finally, a Swedish couple picking mushrooms in the forest saw the head of a live kitten sticking out above ground. When they dug it out, they found two more. The kittens are safe now, and you can read their story here. Okay, no you can't. We forgot to include the link and now we can't find the one we searched over an hour for earlier today so we wouldn't give you a link to a "strange" site.  So we're just going to copy and paste from an email received today.  We don't like to do this but .... grrrrrr....

Mushroom pickers find kittens buried alive
A couple out picking mushrooms in the woods in western Sweden made a macabre find on Thursday evening after spotting the head of a live kitten peering out from the ground behind a tree stump.

The pair immediately began digging and quickly found three distressed and exhausted kittens buried in a woodland area near Hindås, 34 kilometres east of Gothenburg.

Shocked by the find, the couple contacted Tina Karlsson, who runs a local shelter for abandoned cats. Karlsson said one of the four week old kittens - two females and one male - had somehow managed to clamber out of the shallow grave and get its head above ground.



"If I got hold of whoever did this I don't know what I'd do," she said.

Karlsson said she would now nurse the kittens back to health before attempting to find a new home for them after they reach the age of twelve weeks.

"My heart bleeds for these little creatures who don't get a chance because of idiots without a heart or a brain," she said.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

And the Winner Is

Sam
Before I introduce today's post, I have a beef ... or rather a chicken complaint. Can someone please explain to Jan she should not coat giveaway entries with the scent of our breakfast chicken and rice with peas.  Yes, it makes picking a winner tempting, but when she said pick a winner I thought she meant pick a winner to eat. But when I picked out the one I wanted to eat first, she took the chicken scented treat away from me.

Okay, she did feed us breakfast afterwards - kibble and chicken - but it's the principle of the thing that bugs me.

Now for today's post.  We did pick a winner to our August summer travel stories giveaway sponsored by Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul.  And since the camera Jan is using now downloads into a file format Jan could supposedly work with, she has spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to actually work with it.  Surprisingly, she did finally get an amateur video assembled and uploaded to YouTube. 

And the winner is .....




If the video doesn't play, click here.

Yes, it's Khyra and her Cousin Merdie.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo.  Right after that point in the video, Jan started swinging the camera around a bit wildly  - with a little help from my head becasuse I really wanted that chicken-scented treat!.

Congratulations, Khyra & Cousin Merdie!  As soon as you send us your mailing information, Chicken Soup will send your canine goody bag winging it's way to Pawsylvania.

We would like to thank each of you who entered our giveaway, as well as those who helped promote it and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul for providing the prize.