Year 2014 in review (part 1)

a few numbers before we get started:
   this is post 1380
   mom transported 16 dogs this year
   foster: 3 momma cats and 19 kittens

wow....

January came with a kitten in (Cumin) and two kittens being adopted (Milano and Chex who were returned and this was their second adoptions). And mom's brother's family adopted Scooby Doo (yep - he is a kitten):

And mom was involved with Ontario Bloodhound Rescue in saving Summer and Blu


February had a couple of adoptions: Cumin and Amelia (aka the Dust Bunny)

Our grandparents adopted a woofie they call Izzo and mom rescued a feral named Katniss
   oh - and Mo decided he didn't like Al Roker:

March gave us some adoption updates - which we love


April was a wild ride. Licorice got adopted!!!  Jade and Mica arrived....with four kittens coming the next day...and everyone needed a name. This group ended up being our geology kittens: mom Jade, with Mica, Ash, Pearl, Amber, and Coral.

Saffron was adopted (once mom finally got her on Petfinder). And we got some bad news about Maestro.


May is a month we would almost like to forget. While the geology kittens turned a month old and we added Cinco the household as a foster, we lost the old man of our family. Maestro crossed Rainbow Bridge due to cancer.

we love and miss you sweet mancat

June had poor Jade acting as a surrogate mom to...more kittens. We added three more kittens to the geology family: Jet, Topaz and Quartz.  The older kittens turned 2 months old. We celebrated International Box Day. And mom took a vacation with the kid to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.

We hope you will turn in tomorrow for part 2.

Wellness review

We were contacted by Chewy.com who asked us to review some food. Really??? Sure - we are in.

We picked the Divine Duos - we got the Chicken Pate and Diced Turkey.

We got four containers, but mom was stingy and only opened 2 of them.....bah humbug to the mom.

Anyhow, you can see that a certain foursome showed up right away. Open some food around here and those tabby boys are all over it - and they are teaching Daiquiri the same thing. Now, we have read a couple of reviews about this food on other blogs, so mom was interested to see what we would do. And, like we had read....the pate was a hit, the diced part not as much. As you can see from the last picture, there is a decent amount left. And carrots.....no thanks - we aren't into veggies.

So, despite the fact that we will normally eat anything that doesn't eat us first, this was more of a meh. But we appreciate being included....


**while we we given the foodables, the opinions offered here are our own and were not influenced by the company.

Christmas weekend

Mom left us for the weekend....but Santa Paws found us and left presents in TN. Mom hasn't let us have them yet, but we know she brought them back.

The kid bought this with her own money for mom. So sweet.....

 Our cousin Scooby came out to check out the festivities....

Everyone got something they wanted and then dinner was served. Mom said she had a good time with everyone.

When mom came home on Saturday, she helped transport Gracie Mae for Ontario Bloodhound Rescue. Gracie is 5 years old, was kept just to be bred, never lived inside, and was heartworm positive when rescued. But she is super sweet - though needs to gain some weight. Mom's part of the trip was 3 hours from Lexington KY to our hometown. From there she went to a foster home in PA.

We hope you all had a happy and healthy Christmas.....

We are sending purrs to many many friends in the CB. There are several kitties that are sick. And some ran for the Bridge over the weekend. That makes us sad and we are sending purrs to their families.  And if you have few green papers, Marg had an accident at their house - Joe is one of the donkeys there. Over the weekend coyotes got into the pasture and when he chased them away, he got caught in the fence and was hurt. A YouCaring site has been set up for them. Miss Marg does SO much for everyone in the CB.....

Merry Catmas

Merry

Catmas

We hope Santa Paws found you all....

Be safe and happy

wow they were little

Kahlua and Daiquiri

Good heavens they were tiny. It is funny to go back and see these pictures and remember that the long legged big eared kittens in the house were once very tiny. Kahlua came to us found outside and Daiquiri the same way.

A couple weeks later and they were getting bigger....and getting attitude.

And now look at them.....

Kahlua is now up at the adoption center for the rescue. Mom took her up Sunday when a spot opened up. Hopefully her forever family is looking for her and she will go home quickly. She has blossomed into a super sweet outgoing and playful kitten. It is funny though - for as much as she is willing to cuddle, she walks up to mom and asks to be picked up rather than jumping up in mom's lap.

Daiquiri is a whole different issue.....the company that makes the tests ran her bloodwork and came back with the same results that we got. So, medically she is negative, but from a PR perspective, it could cause problems for the rescue. Or even worse, if she were to get lost and be picked up and tested without someone checking for a chip, it could cost her her life....and we won't risk that. Mom talked to the head of the rescue who suggested one more test in a month to see if anything changes. Mom has been talking to us, and we are pretty sure she is now part of the family. Everyone here adores her, so she is more than welcome to stay. :)

weekend wrapup

Mom did some "spring" cleaning. Yes...we know it is winter here, but we never said the woman was right in the head....She took out some old stuff to toss or recycle. And then move around a couple of shelves. One now in her bedroom and the a new one in our room. She said next step is to move some other stuff and then put up some shelves to make us a super highway. More on that later.....

The kittens are having a blast. We are trying to figure out the next step for them at this point. But in the meantime, it is a party around here.

thinking about attacking the gingerbread house

ready to defend the house

is she coming or not?

 This cat sack was part of our Secret Paws box. No one seemed willing to go inside, so mom grabbed Daiquiri and shoved her in it. And suddenly she discovered it was pretty nice in there....until Kahlua heard the crinkling and came over to investigate.

Secret Paws

It is that time of year...we packed up a box and sent it out. And then the man in the blue shorts pants brought us a box too. Mom locked it up for a few days but finally broke it out and let us open it.

There were lots of wrapped packages - one with each of our names on it. And a card - it was from the kitties at 15 and Meowing THANKS so much....we love it!!!

 package inspectors

the kickers were awesome - probably the biggest we have ever seen

treats, a treat ball and a crinkly cat sack

there were even toys included for the foster kittens

mom put those aside for the next group to come along

presents for mom too - a calendar and a lovely scarf

We are loving the kickers. Still checking out the the cat sack.....

Pet Bloggers Gift Exchange

We heard about this on facebook and were interested. It isn't presents wrapped in a package and sent in the mail. Rather, it is bloggers taking the time to get to know each other and do something nice....talk about each other. It was started and sponsored by Something Wagging this way comes and we thought we would like to participate this year....

We were paired with Emma from My GBGV Life. Now, we don't know much about dogs, but mom does and she thinks this breed is ADORABLE. We have to admit, she may be a woofie, but she is pretty cute. She has woofie sisters and a kitty bro-fur too!!  And holy moly....she even wrote a book:

She sure is smart...and even talks about taking classes to use her nose. And here we thought dogs knew how to do that naturally.  MOL

What mom found very interesting is how she talks about safety when walking. Mom says she doesn't think that gets talked about nearly enough. And she does tend to dress up some....  She also talks about pet health and walking and food - you know the important stuff (ok - except the walking, but mom says that is important for dogs).

You can find her all over the place: YouTube Facebook (with even more cute pictures of her) Twitter and some place that involves pins....

But here is what we like best - her blog is about a glimpse into her life. And isn't that what blogging should be about? A snippet of what we are doing and the things around us. ok...and being cute

a nice surprise

Kahlua and Daiquiri are still here with us. There isn't space at the adoption center but mom took them to an adoption event on Sunday and they are on Petfinder. They have had all access to the house since last weekend and are having a blast. Running all over and playing like mad. They have even been well behaved at night.

Daiquiri has always been very lovey and looking for attention. Kahlua not as much - she is ok if mom would pick her up to love on her but wouldn't come looking for attention. Well, on Saturday Kahlua was sitting on the arm of mom's chair and mom scratched her head. Kahlua thought about it and then moved over and sat on mom's lap for a while. Daiquiri came up...and then a wrestling match broke out. MOL

Since then, Kahlua has come up to mom asking for more attention and has even slept with everyone at night. Those breakthroughs are wonderful to see....

HAPPY Gotcha Day

Ivy and Spud

Hard to believe this was 6 years ago.

Don't let the pictures deceive you - they don't spend time together anymore.

Ivy was here as a foster with her mom and her sisters and Spud had been found by a neighbor of our grandparents. Spud fit right in with the girls. While there was no intention of adding to the family, Spud and Ivy never really left.

Santa Kitty Toy Hop

Cats across the blogosphere this year are doing something a little different. We are each picking a local charity and giving back. Summer from Sparkle's blog is organizing it and has a link set up for all the blogs participating.

We thought long and hard about who to donate to around here. We live in a large with with lots of rescues but wanted to pick a smaller one that may not get a lot of support.

We decided to donate to Hospets. (they are on facebook too) They are a group that does several things:
      1. Provide food and vet services for elderly and hospice patients
      2. Provide transportation to vet appointments
      3. Provide respite care for those individuals that are going into nursing care and need short term placement of their pets
      4. Help find homes for animals displaced by the death of their owners or for owners that are no longer able to care for their pets on their own or with help

 Mom took food, litter, treats and toys.

We have a dog park near us and they were set up on Saturday and Sunday taking donations. Mom checked their facebook page on Sunday and it appears to be a huge success. We think this group is doing good work helping those that need assistance to keep their pets.

Random Friday

This is how WE plan to spend the weekend......

Mom said something about taking the kittens to another adoption event on Sunday.

And mom said something about cookies....we feel we should warn the fire department just in case....
       oh wait - she said there is NO baking involved....good, we are safe


Oh - and Savannah's mom is having something done to her knees....so she asked for some guest posts. We wrote one about Uncle Tim and him helping mom socialize kittens. You can read it here today!!

Throwback Thursday

Mom was going through some pictures and found these of the state kittens from September of 2010 and they cracked her up.....

Nevada in the back

left to right: Bug, Carolina, Utah, Georgia, Main and Dakota 

(and yes, mom had to refer to her foster list to get that right)

 Maine sleeping on top of Utah

Utah was the tiniest of the bunch so mom would give her extra canned food

Bug was the clean up crew 

this cracks mom up every time....

Chiclet and some of the kitts

Remember, mom found Bug under some steps that Labor Day weekend and then took in Chiclet and her kittens in hoping that Chiclet would adopt Bug. No such luck, but at least Bug had someone to grow up with. Hard to believe it has been four years.....