Sunday, March 27, 2011

Book Signing, Got Feelings Hurt...

The most exciting thing lately is that I saw the author of "Homer's Odyssey," Gwen Cooper, about Homer the Blind Wondercat that I've been following on
Facebook for a while. She came to Knoxville and talked at our school, Pellissippi State Technical Community College (PSTCC). I bought the book and she signed it.

While waiting in line for her to sign my copy, I was surrounded by a few women from the Knoxville Feral Friends. One was friendly, but the others were pointedly NOT friendly. My feelings got really hurt, and instead of talking S&*% about them, I kept my mouth shut. They care about the cats, and that works for me.

One of the reasons we "get into" cats in the first place is because we don't do well with people. At least cat fanatics like myself and the gals in Knoxville Feral Friends are like that. I understand. But it still hurt my feelings.

I guess that says a lot about me, doesn't it.....

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Disaster in Japan!

Helping folks with cats seems like small potatoes when compared to the devastation, and now nuclear plant disasters, in Japan.

I'm here if you need me.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Not Sleeping Leads to Productive Hours??

beasley and queenie on chair
My wonderful Beasley is afraid of storms, and we've had plenty.  And my girls have been snuggly, so the kitties have been visiting me in bed.  In the process, they wake me up.

The bed I currently have is very shaky, and when they jump up, the whole thing jiggles.  Consequently, I wake up.  Since I don't sleep all that well anyway, I tend to just get up - after an hour or so.

This could be anywhere from 2am to 5am.

I go to the computer after I've made my coffee, and I tend to end up at the site.  So, I've updated the "About Me" page and re-ordered the "About" section.  I've put together a few e-zine issues and gotten the next one ready to go out on April 1. 

Bugs hanging on chair back

Fluffy on Duffel bag
I review the pages, update here, tweak there.

I took off all the articles that I'd collected except for 2 of them, that weren't published elsewhere.  That had to do with the newest "Google dance" and something website publishers and search engines call "duplicate content."

Of course, not sleeping leads to other problems, and I have those, too.  But last night I locked them all out of the bedroom and got a good night's sleep.  Every now and then, I do that, just to put my body to rights. I still got up before the alarm went off.  By 2 hours!

If there is anything you would like me to address, let me know.  Reply to your e-zine issue, and I'll answer you.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Updates!

I finally got to update a couple of pages on the site...

The
http://www.for-the-love-of-cats.com/FLEACONTROL.html
page and the
http://www.for-the-love-of-cats.com/ChronicDiarrhea.html
page.

The flea control page was a mess! I fixed it and made it less redundant.  I put up only one link to the various products, instead of many links for the same thing to different suppliers.  I found the best deals I could for you.  I only linked to the 6-month flea drops.  There are no collars.  There is a new report that collars are associated with seizures, so that was done on purpose.  If you want a collar, I suggest this one...

http://www.for-the-love-of-cats.com/ONP-RechargableFleaCollar

The chronic diarrhea page had a full change of content. It mirrors a page on Only Natural Pet Supplies, so you can find that article if you would like to, but they also cited the page I cited, which has gone offline.


That's it for now... 

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Update on the Furpeople

My furpeople are like humans in some ways.  They live with me all the time, and I forget that not everyone has cats that they can relate to like I do mine.

Beasley is my baby, but he's also a very demanding, spoiled child.  I take full responsibility for it, too!  He's extremely communicative, and he misbehaves just because he can.  He has the cutest look on his face when I'm covered up with the girls and he wants to be on my lap...  It's not quite a pout, but a "wanting" that's so plain it almost hurts to see it.  He waits for the girls to clear a space (usually by mistake) and then he comes up.  One day, he was on my lap, Queenie jumped to the arm of the chair, and Fluffy took the other arm.  They were sitting on top of him!  He took it as long as he could, and then left.


Princess has been very ill.  She lost about 1/4 of her bodyweight to some worms, and not being able to get to the food bowls without the pack barring her way and challenging her.  So, I made some concessions in her feeding location, and treated her for worms.  She's doing better,  but she hasn't regained the weight.  She feels like a feather.  Imagine a cat that's bigger than a chihuahua dog, and weighing less than 11 pounds...  On the positive, she's very snuggly, and she demands attention now, which she hasn't since we moved into the house, almost 18 months ago.  She regressed from sitting on my lap when she got sick, but she's back.  It's nice to see.

Fluffy, my little (?) sweet bear-kitty, is as snuggly as ever.  She's finally stopped grieving the roommate we had who was her favorite person in the whole world.  At least I think she has.  She's snuggly again, but if he ever comes back to see us, we'll see how she acts.  If she's aloof, I'll know she still cares too much, but if she's OK, then all is well.  Cats are shy when they've been hurt- they love to see you, but they are also afraid they'll be hurt again.  I know she'll remember him!  Anyway, her mats are bad again, but I haven't had the time to groom her like she needs it.  Otherwise, she's doing very well.

Queenie - my wanna-be-owner pest, is very possessive of me.  She doesn't want anyone to get near me.  If I sit on the chair, she has to come be next to me.  I've told her to stop, and she's better, but she still wants to be on me or next to me all the time.  However, she hasn't slept with me for quite a while.  I greet her when she comes to bed, but she's been fairly distant there.

Finally, Missy Bugs.  She's still snuggling anyone, anytime, anywhere.  But she's taken to wrapping herself around my arm when she gets the chance.  She sits on me, instead of next to me.  She will wrap herself into as small a ball as she can manage, and sit just barely on my lap.  When the others leave, she stretches out.  In some ways, she's almost human.  The poor girl really needs a home of her own where she can get all the cuddles in the house.  I don't know how she'd do without the others, but since she still gets a lot of harassment from them, I think she would do well.  She loves to play, snuggle, and sleep.  Just like any cat, but she's using 100% of her attention doing whatever it is she's doing.  She's very smart, focused, and imitates well.  She's a fast study, for sure.  I still think she will be good for training purposes.  I haven't had the time....

That's the second time I've used that phrase.  I went back to school, so my time is not my own as much.  Things got tough about a year ago, when I lost my job, so to make things better, I went back to school.  I figured improving my skills wouldn't hurt.  But it takes time away from the house, cats and website.  Scheduling becomes an important part of my day, and if I get off schedule, things go downhill quickly.  Everything suffers.

I'm writing an article this month on "toxoplasmosis" for the e-zine, so I hope you are all subscribed.  It looks to be quite informative.

Friday, February 04, 2011

Counseling Rate Change

Unfortunately, I had to raise the price I charge for counseling, which I call "Cat Whispering."  It doesn't seem to have affected the number of folks requesting counseling, for which I am pleased. 

I spent about 6 months at the beginning, varying the price point to test what was most effective, and what worked best for me.  At a lower price, I had all the counseling I could handle - and more!  So I raised the price so that it was just enough of a bar that the folks who could find the answers on the site would look for them.  And it kept me from spending all day answering e-mails.  I had folks writing in, but not so many that I couldn't keep up. 

Lately, this has changed.  Again, a lot of e-mail, which I really love, but just can't seem to stay on top of.  That, and some increased expenses, have brought me to this point.  So, the counseling price went up the 1st of February, but not too much.  Still under $10, ($8.75) and I still get with folks as fast as I can. 

I just don't have time to get there everyday, and that bothers me.  I hope the delays don't cause too much of a problem, as the feedback I receive is very positive.  I know I'm helping.  Some folks come back with other issues, paying again.  Some folks make donations because they feel my help has been so helpful to them. 

I know that sometimes, it's just nice to have someone to talk to when you face a problem with your cat.  Someone who understands, empathizes, and just may have some insight.  I'm that person for a lot of folks.  And I love that part of it. 

You know, I've long said that I love every cat on the planet, and it's true.  I really do love them.  This way, I don't have to feed them all.  You folks can feed your cats, and I still get to love them.  That's a win-win for the cat!

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Site Updated!!!!

I finally got the home page done yesterday, and I have a simplified training page to go up today.  I'm finally getting the content, if not the rest of it, done!  Yay!!!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

URGENT! Pet Food Recall

Please stop using these brands

The following products, all with sell-by dates of October 23-24, 2011 are being recalled:
  • Pet Pride Cat Food sold in 3.5 lb. packages
  • Pet Pride Cat Food sold in 18 lb. packages
  • Pet Pride Tasty Blend Poultry & Seafood Cat Food sold in 3.5 lb. packages
  • Pet Pride Tasty Blend Poultry & Seafood Cat Food sold in 18 lb.
  • Pet Pride Kitten Formula Food sold in 3.5 lb. Packages
  • Old Yeller Chunk Dog Food sold in 22 lb. packages
  • Old Yeller Chunk Dog Food sold in 50 lb. packages
  • Kroger Value Cat Food sold in 3 lb. packages
  • Kroger Value Chunk Dog Food sold in 15 lb. packages
  • Kroger Value Chunk Dog Food sold in 50 lb. packages

 Full details can be found here....

Food Recall

Return the bags to your retailer for assistance! 

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Fluffy

Fluffy has found someone she loves almost as much as she loves me - my soon-to-be ex-roommate. He's moving across country, but she's staying. Here is a photo showing her on his duffle bags.  They are currently filled with dirty clothes, so have his smell on them. 

Cats choose their people.  She loves me because I got her out of the cage, but it's more gratitude.  With him, she just loves him.  She picked him when he first came to live with us.  The others are friendly, but Fluffy decided that he belongs to her. 

She walks up to him and teases him, and he teases back.  If he would let her in his room, she would love it.  She doesn't sit in his lap like she does with me, but it may be more logistics.  She rubs against him at every opportunity.

She's sure going to miss him.  As much as I will.  He's a good one...

Thursday, December 02, 2010

e-zine not ready, so not sent

I still haven't got the December e-zine issue done, so it isn't that you didn't receive it - it hasn't been sent.