Jan Smiles at Smiling Paws

Taylor:  You would not believe the problems encountered to write this post.  And they all were caused by Winton.  You remember Winton. We wrote a whole post on how he was trying to keep us from downloading photos from our camera and processing them.  (Winton in the Doghouse)
 
Cyndi:  But Jan persevered through ice and snow and mountainous trails -

Micah:  What are you babbling about, Cyndi?  I think you're picking up Marcus's trait of exaggeration.

Cyndi:  Well, she did persevere through the heat and humidity.

Micah:  Okay, I'll give you that.  But no more fibbing.  Just tell the truth.

Percy:  We're supposed to be talking about the above photo.  Do any of you know what it is?

Rusty:  Yes, it's a litter mat.  An extra large litter mat, as you can see. 35" by 23.5". We have large pans and there is plenty of room on the mat for us to leap out and leave any litter stuck to our paws on the mat. 

Percy:  Jan likes it because it does catch those stray pieces of litter.  Every so often she just takes it outside and shakes the loose litter out of it. 

Cyndi:  As you can see, Rusty slept through the first photo session.  Here he is next to the extra large Smiling Paws Cat Litter Mat before Jan unrolled it and let it relax (flatten) on top of Marcus's crate for a few days before putting it to its intended use.

Taylor:  Some cat evidently read that the loofah like material is urine proof and decided to test it because while it relaxed on the crate, Jan wondered why Micah was using it for a scratching post one evening.  Actually, that wasn't what he was doing. To this day, Jan doesn't know which male was responsible and we're not tattling.  Micah, did you do it or were you just trying to cover Percy's pee?

Micah:  I don't pee and tell.  Not on myself and not on Percy.  Suffice it to say, Jan had only to spray it with cleaner, take it outside and hose it well.  The urine did not leak through the thick mat and drip on Marcus's bed in the crate.

Cyndi:  Jan loves this mat.  All the ones she has tried before have been much smaller.  It's good quality, is BPA free and has an anti-skid backing.

Micah:  It also has a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied.  Jan is very satisfied with ours.

Percy:  The nice people at Smiling Paws are offering 20% off on all orders on Smiling PawsPets.com.  Just use the coupon code "funnyfarm".

Disclaimer:  We received a litter mat for this review, but no other compensation.  Any opinions are our own - and we are very opinionated!

New Shoe for Jan

Hey, we got the strangest package recently.  This is what was in it.  No, not Percy, the strange white box he's standing in.

We tried some guesses ....

Rusty got bored and gave up.

But Percy persevered.

We're still not sure.

Finally, even Percy gives up.

Ah, a light dawns. 

Percy suddenly remembers Jan recently did the weird winner dance because we won Brian's NVR Miss Litterbox Giveaway.  She was happy because some cat - and she dared to claim it was me! - kept peeing over one of the boxes we had (not pictured), even though we are using higher than normal boxes. But this box is supposed to be made so the cat has to turn sideways from the opening.

Shortly before Micah moved in a couple weeks ago Jan added the new box to the "keep the dogs out of the litterbox buffet" hideaway and waited to see what would happen.  And she's been pleased with the results.  So far, no over the top accidents.

I, however, am not a bit pleased with it.  I want my favorite one back.  You know, the lower one I could ...uh, perhaps I should stop talking now.

Thanks for spoiling my aim, Brian.  Um, I mean, thanks for having the giveaway so we could win this special new litter box that makes Jan happy..

Weird Winner Dance

Hey, Percy here.  I'd like to announce that Jan has officially lost her mind.  She is doing some weird happy dance. Why?  Because we are the winners of Brian's NVR Miss Litter Box Giveaway.  Yes, seriously, Jan is dancing around the room over a litterbox.  And last we knew, she doesn't even use one. 

She claims I shoot over the top of the litterbox.  Actually, she claims I shoot through the SMALL HOLES in the sides. Can you imagine the nerve of her telling everyone I - Percy, the handsome and fastidious - shoot for the hoop (Is that a basketball term?  If not, it should be.) every time I climb in to pee?

I would never!

Well, I might on occasion.

Okay, I admit it's fun to annoy Jan. 

Jan can't wait for the new litterbox to arrive.  Personally, I can't wait for it either, now that I've had time to consider it.  With that great big hole in the front, I won't even have to aim.

What's that, Jan?  Oh, no!  She says the beauty of this box is I will have to stand in it sideways. 

But what if I want to stand up and put my feet on the back of the box instead of stand sideways?  Hmmm, this will be interesting.  Jan, you're on.  I can't wait to test our new litterbox.

And Squashie of TK & Squashie's blog is not feeling well and has her mom worried.

We continue to remember Ann and Vic in prayer.

Cameron would Play Fetch

Hey, Cameron here with today's news.

First, we are so happy Precious kitty was adopted in time. You can check Brian's blog for any details.

We have a video for you. This adorable, friendly dog wants to play fetch. He does everything he can to get a man's attention so he'll throw the stick for him but the man sits there like he's a statue. He refuses to even acknowledge the dog's presence. Maybe the dog should bite that mean man's leg. He'd pay attention then.

Hey, woofie, I'm a cat but I'd throw it for you, if I could.


If the video doesn't play, click here.

Harharhar, fooled you for a minute, didn't I!


We're very sad that Chance Bond and Imp lost their woofie brother Shadow on Thursday, May 5th. He was taken tot he vet because he couldn't stand on his own and it was discovered he was in kidney failure.The news was posted on his mom's Facebook wall. We don't know whether they'll post a farewell to Shadow on their blog but you can leave a message on Chance's blog. His family really misses him.

Jerry L of CrizCats left for the bridge yesterday. Stop by and leave Criz a message of sympathy too.

And on a happier note, don't forget Auntie Stinkie's 19th birthday party Sunday 9 am to 12 noon (Pacific time). They're going to have a movie too. Where? Dr. Tweety & the Fab 5 blog.

Cameron and Crushed Rubber

Cameron:  It's my turn to introduce the subject for today.  We want to tell you what we learned about a product on the market.  This isn't a review of a product, just a review of what we learned on the subject because several of those we asked for input before testing it the other day have asked whether we accepted or turned down the offer.  So here goes. Hope it makes sense because Jan is rushing to get to a meeting and we're not supposed to play on the internet when she's not home.  (Ha!)


Many of you have seen this recently -
I have invented and patented a new cat product. I need to find a devoted cat blogger to help promote my product ...


We won't name the individual or his company as we are not writing this to endorse his product, publicize it or even to slam it. but the idea is to use ground tires as cat litter in a specially designed/built litter box because tires are not absorbent.

Jan was cautious but interested in testing it to see if it would be something that could help us with some income. but then she saw this warming from PDX Pride -
Please be careful, kitties! ... “environmentally safe” recycled tire cat litter is misleading! Please do some research about this. Even playgrounds & fields made out of crumb rubber (as it’s known) may have high levels of toxic chemicals such as lead. In 2008, there were major studies done, and a lot of states quit using the crumbled form without reformulating it into a sheet. Car tires are also NOT “organic” or “carbon-based”, as the website claims. They are petroleum-based.

So she googled crumb rubber and could not find anything good on the subject. She emailed some bloggers and non bloggers to ask for their feedback. But Karen, mom to the PDX Pride and daughter of a retired Oregon Health Department worker, sent us this easier to understand explanation.

I applaud him for coming up with another use for recycled crumb rubber, and on the surface it looks like his idea would work, if not for using recycled tires.  Since he's going by the claim on the bag of rubber that he gets, I hope he's done his research on that claim.  There are two meanings to the word "organic".  One is the chemical meaning:  produced from carbon-containing components.  In that meaning, vulcanized rubber of any sort is organic.  The other is the environmental meaning:  produced without the use of chemicals.  In this meaning, NO vulcanized rubber is organic, especially not any that has been used as tires.

No method of recycling used tires can fully wash off oils and other road contaminants.  These are absorbed into the rubber of the tire.  Furthermore, tires are manufactured from raw rubber (an actual organic component), chemicals (varying by manufacturing company), and steel wire (mostly taken out when recycled).  So, chemicals are inherent in the rubber of the tire from manufacturing as well as what is absorbed through use.

However, if the rubber that he's getting is from a source that uses ONLY raw rubber or vulcanized raw rubber, then that would be safe for cats.  But recycled tires contain chemicals that I wouldn't want around my cats.

Jan asked him which type of rubber he is using, raw or vulcanized raw rubber and he answered that the guy who grinds it uses both and it would be "mixed." As far as we can assess, this isn't possible.

So Jan passed on testing it or helping to sell it. Our welfare is important to her!

If you have been contacted and are interested in trying the product or helping to market it, we aren't trying to dissuade you. We just hope you will check into the safety aspect of it for your kitties first.