Foster and Smith has pulled out....

Foster and Smith has ceased [affiliate] operations. This is in response to the pending legislation taxing internet sales.

The problem is that the merchant - the seller - has to keep track of where the stuff was sent, and pay the local sales tax on the sale.

This puts undue pressure on the merchant to keep track of local sales tax rates. In my state, this means each county. How can a merchant know which county a person lives in? By zip code?

Anyway, the nightmare of reporting and paying the taxes is driving out several players in the online product sales game. The expense of tracking these sales is more than most merchants want to deal with.

Expect to see more merchants pull their products and programs over the next few months.

I fully expect that if this legislation passes, online sales may completely cease. You won't be able to buy anything online. Contact your legislators to stop this - unless you want your choices to be completely limited to what Walmart and it's ilk have in stock.

That means that if they don't carry it, you can't get it. Period.

Christmas may be over, but...

This is a bit cute, even if it's not Christmas anymore. The cat is very patient...

Woo Hoo!!! Thank you Everyone!

SPONSORED BY Pet Supplies - Cat Supplies - Pet Meds

Thank you to everyone who voted. I appreciate this more than you could possibly know!!!

WooHoo! E-zine is put to bed....

Feb Issue is done! Great items on sale this month! Fun articles, a little off-beat. Look for it!

Trademark Issues...

I got a very nasty set of e-mails from someone who said he was an attorney in New York. He said I was to stop using the term "Cat Whisperer" because they had trademarked it.

I contacted an attorney of my own, instead of blindly doing what he demanded (yes, demanded!)

My attorney took a look at the documentation, said the guy was full of hooey, and had no business talking to me like that. I'd given him no reason to be that nasty, and I was very short and direct in my answers, but not rude.

Anyway, it boils down to me trademarking a similar term, since the term "Cat Whisperer" cannot be trademarked. You can't trademark the word "Cat" and the term "Cat Whisperer" is too short to trademark. Meanwhile, my attorney and I have decided to trademark the term in such a way that I won't ever have to deal with the likes of this supposed attorney or his ilk, again.

So, I need $1,000. Anybody need help with their cats? Not asking for a loan or a donation, but I'd sure love to earn it!

Oy! Vet day!

Yikes! I tried to get all the cats to the vet on the same day - didn't work.

I got Beasley, Fluffy and Bugs in. Queenie took a big chunk out of my hand and Princess took cover, nowhere to be found.

It will probably take a good 2 weeks for my hand to stop throbbing and the muscle to fully heal. She got me in the middle of the back of the hand, right down to the muscle, and it totally disabled my hand for about 15 minutes. Not a good bite for me, but an excellent defensive tactic on Queenie's part. The funny thing was, I had full control over her paws and her body. She couldn't get away. She squirmed, bent over and bit down hard.

Maybe if I'd let go, she wouldn't have gotten the second bite in...

Live and learn.

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I'll get her in later, I guess.

Claustrophobia isn't just for people, I guess. The small confines of a carrier can terrorize a cat.

Kitty Visual Catnip...

My cats have been having a ball, watching the birds outside the window. I can't keep the bird feeders full.

The birds have this deal where they tip the feeders over, and spill the seed on the ground. I need some feeders that can't be tipped, I guess.

So, anyway, I finally stopped filling the things to the top and wasting all the seed. I now only put a little in every other day.

And the cats love it!

I've got the Sparrows, of course. They are greedy little feeders.

But I've also got Cardinals. Male and female juveniles and adults. They are so pretty!

No Finches yet. I think I need a different seed mix for those. No Grackles, either, or Starlings. I've had a few Ravens, but they moved on.

I hear the kitty chirping going on, even now...

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It's been very cold here - about 15 last night. My neighbor's very tame and indoor-only cat got out a couple of days ago, and no one has seen her since. I'm worried that she's frozen to death. I checked what I could, and notified the neighbors on the other side, but I'm afraid there is little hope for her.

We'll keep looking.

Some Photos of the Cats....

Miss Flufferdoodle....










Queenie








Bugsy








A gorgeous photo of Princess









Beasley

I haven't talked about the "kids" lately...

Beasley got stepped on this morning. I stepped back while washing the dishes (no, I don't have a dishwasher - totally superfluous for one person!) and stepped squarely on his tail. He yelped, and I let up enough for him to take off like a shot. He was spitting out hair he'd nipped off, while bathing and laying behind me in the kitchen. Poor baby! I picked him up and apologized profusely!

He's much better. Overall, this is a true rarity.

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Their behavior since Queenie took over as alpha, is really different. Queenie is a heavy-handed alpha cat. She lords it over everyone - even me - that she is now the true queen. Man, what a big head!

She picks on everyone, even Beasley. She used to tease him, but now she chases him. I've seen one positive, though. Fluffy is now engaging in the chasing games that she used to ignore. She would ignore everyone and everything, just going about her merry way. Now, she's involved.

Princess, my dethroned lady, is very insistent on snuggles all day now. She still won't come to sit next to me on the chair, but she is very snuggly all the same. Kissing is still part of the package, too. Very hard nips, along the hands, fore-arms and on my wrists.

Bugsy is less an instigator and more disobedient. She's not getting into fights like she did, but she still is bearing the brunt of the "discipline" by the others. She has taken to snuggling in the chair, in the most unlikely positions! She just wants to be held and cuddled. A stroke will cause her for flatten her ears - and I'm not sure if she's doing that out of fear of being hit (she's never been hit) or if she's making room for my hand. I make sure she gets a snuggle session as often as she asks for it. She pops up at least once a day.

Queenie keeps picking on Beasley. He'll be sleeping quietly on the cat-chair, and she will jump up and kick him off the chair. She will sit there about 15 minutes, then leave. Meanwhile, Beasley's sleep has been disturbed for no real reason.

She is also hogging the back of my chair, which used to be Beasley's refuge and his place to be close to me. I don't pet her like I do him while she's up there. But she won't back off.

This little cocoa colored tyrant needs to be brought down a peg!

I need your help....

One of the less-than-shining Vet Tech Schools resources has been taken over by another entity. I would like a review of the course from someone who has or is taking the course there. It looks much better.

It's Ashworth College Online, near the bottom of the page. Please follow the link to give me a review.

Thank You!!!