A Cat Mom's Love on Mother's Day- And a Selfie for Sunday

I have been very remiss in keeping my blog up to date lately, and I have to say Lola and Lexy aren't very happy about being out of touch with their friends.  Admittedly, I had no post prepared for today and had planned on posting a photo for Selfie Sunday with a few brief sentences to go along with it.  But as I began to get my photo ready thoughts started to flow through my head and the post started to take a different direction. 

The term "unconditional love" was in the forefront of my thoughts as I started to type. The researcher in me immediately looked up the terms agape (ah-guh-pay) and altruism, and the psychologist in me immediately thought of Carl Rogers's theory of Unconditional Positive Regard (accepting and respecting others as they are without judgment or evaluation.) But this blog is about my cats and me, so I should just speak from my heart without worrying about citing my work. 

As a 50-ish woman with no children I could very easily feel as if there was something missing from my life. (I find it interesting, though, that in graduate school I did a paper on women who were childless.) But as I sit here on the sofa typing this, I look to my left at Lola in her usual place on the arm of the sofa just being happy to be near me. I look to my right and see Lexy sitting on top of the recliner watching me, and I get a blink. And as other cat moms can only understand, I remember that I love Lola and Lexy as if I would love my own children.  Some people may think that to be a strange thing, but so what? 

Lexy's Sixth Gotcha Day!

Hello everyone! This is Lexy and I’m here to tell you that today is a very special day.  It’s my Gotcha Day, or my Adoptiversary as some like to call it.  I like to call it “the day my life changed forever”. It’s actually a two-part day, the first day being April 10.  Six years ago on April 10 Mother and I found each other. It was serendipitous, if I do say so myself.  By happenstance Mother found herself in Petco in Nanuet, NY, the same day I happened to be “on display” at an adoption event with Hudson Valley Humane Society. 

 OK, “on display” seems a little negative to say, but that’s how I felt.  Family after family, person after person, just passed me up. After a while even the most confident girl starts to feel there’s something wrong with her.  This went on for about a year, and then it happened. A human stopped by my cage and couldn’t take her eyes off of me.  It was Mother.  She oohed and aahed over me, and didn’t even look at the other cats. For the first time in a very long time, a human had eyes for only me.  I liked her – I could feel her positive energy, and I felt something else; love.  I didn’t get my hopes up too high though, because I didn’t want to get let down again. Especially when she left without me. 

A week later on April 17, 2010 , the volunteers (who were all so wonderful to me), told me I was going home.  They kept petting me (I didn’t do hugs back then, either) and telling me how happy they were for me.  I wondered if they had me confused with some other cat because surely I hadn’t been adopted. A little while later I smelled a familiar human scent – it was a human who had petted me before in my cage, but I didn’t know who.  I looked up to take a peek and there she was; it was Mother, and she looked so happy! She was accompanied by an entourage of humans who I later found out were my new relatives. They all came to see me! The next thing I knew I was in a carrier (well, a cardboard box type of thing) with my bed from my crate, and off I went in the car to Queens, NY.  (I never slept in that bed again.  I never went near it. That part of my life was over and I was happy when Mother finally threw it out.)

About 90 minutes later I was home.  It felt so strange to say that word – home.  The last “home” I had ended up with the humans moving and me being thrown outside, left behind, to fend for myself.  I had a feeling Mother wouldn’t be like that, though.  The house was already set up for the arrival of a queen, complete with fancy dishes, scratching post, beds and catnip toys.  Not to mention treats.  I took a look around (after a quick trip to the litter box), and then jumped in the kitchen window.  It was so long since I was able to do this. I missed the birds! I turned around and looked at Mother to say “thank you”, and at that moment I gave her my heart.  We’ve been in love ever since. 

Birds! Oh birds, how I've missed you so. 

Blog The Change for Animals - #BtC4A - Baby Gracie

Once again it is Blog the Change For Animals day, a day when bloggers are encouraged to spread the word about helping animals and to inspire others to do the same.  Today I’m taking over the blog to write about a kitten my boyfriend rescued.

On July 31, 2014, my boyfriend, Will, was walking to the subway to get to work for the 3pm – 11pm shift. His usual shift is 7am – 3pm, but on a semi-regular basis it switches to an "off shift." While walking past a parked car he saw three children yelling and pointing underneath it.  There was a tiny kitten under the wheel of the car, which was just getting ready to pull away.  The children saw the kitten and yelled for the car to stop.  Without thinking twice Will bent down to pick it up, but it was terrified and scrambled further under the car.  This was taking place on a busy street and Will was fearful that the kitten would run out from the other side of the car into traffic, so he lied down on his stomach in the street and climbed under the car to get the kitten.  Thankfully he was successful! He scooped her up, put her inside his shirt and went back to his apartment. He set her up in the bathroom with a litter box, water, and some food and left to go to work (since he was already late).

Later that evening I got a call from him saying “I found a kitten and it’s in my bathroom.” I wasn’t home (I don’t remember where I was) so I couldn’t go over. The next day I left work early to go see the cat. The poor little thing was absolutely terrified! And she was sick. Her eye was swollen shut and had a discharge.  We went to the store to get kitten milk replacement, kitten food and a syringe (since I didn’t know if she could eat on her own because she was so tiny.) I also immediately called my vet and made an appointment to bring her in the next day and called my boss to tell her I wouldn’t be in.

I brought her home with me that night and set her up in the bathroom.  Lexy and Lola heard her little squeaks, but they never growled or hissed.  I guess they could sense it was a baby who needed help. After a couple of days of some good food and being indoors, her eye started to look a little better. She had the cutest little squeak of a meow! As feral as she was she seemed to appreciate my company, as she would quiet down when I went into the bathroom and spoke to her

Morris The Cat is Back With Grooming Tips for Kitties!

Hello and Happy Thursday Purrsday! With spring coming up and after that, the dreaded bathing suit season (eek!), We know everyone's searching for ways to look their best. We’re happy that our readers have a 'paw up' on the competition because we're about to get some style and wellness tips from someone who knows a thing or two about looking awesome... I'm talking, of course, about Morris the Cat. Thanks so much for stopping by, Morris! It’s always a pleasure to have you. 

In case you're not familiar with this illustrious feline (we don’t know how someone couldn’t know who Morris is, but you never know!), Morris is the original celebricat, starring in over 50 9Lives cat food commercials from the 1970s up through today. He's even been called "the Clark Gable of cats," and that's about as debonair as it gets! In his "Dear Morris" column, he'll be answering some readers' burning questions about good grooming, and he's also giving away a human-sized, 9Lives-branded bathrobe, a $300 Spa Finder gift card, and a whole year's supply of 9Lives cat food! Enter at his website: http://prospurr.9lives.com/ (Just think how happy your favorite shelter would be to get that food!)

 OK, Morris, take it away!

Dear Morris,

I love my cat, Baxter, but man, does he shed! Every time I leave the house I'm covered in cat hair. It's getting to the point where we can't even cuddle together without me looking like the sticky side of a lint roller! Unleash your wisdom, Morris... there must be something I can do.

Sincerely,

Hairy Harry

A Sneaky Sunday Selfie

Hello and Happy Sunday! Today's selfie is a sneaky one.  Mommy was doing a photo shoot with me sitting on her pillow, and when she walked away for a minute she left her phone. I just couldn't resist getting a quick selfie before she came back! The lighting isn't very good because I wasn't able to turn on the bedside lamp (since I have no thumbs.) I hope you all like it! 

Lola

Sunday Selfies - Not Quite Right!

Hello and Happy Sunday! For today's Sunday Selfie I had Mommy help me by holding the cell phone.  Eh.... not such a great photo session! Maybe next time I'll use a tripod! 

Blurry and too close! 

Nope!

A little better. 

I'm getting a little annoyed.

This is my selfie for this week. This
is the best of the bunch!

Lola

Wordless Wednesday - Snuggle Schmuggle