Radar... the Best Cat Ever

Cats like Radar don't come along very often. His extraordinary intelligence must account for his survival as a stray in a very small town in a rural area where strays are usually shot, not gathered up by animal control and impounded. So when neighbors called to tell me he was about to be shot, I knew I had to save him.

Read the rest of Radar's story here...

Latest From Georgia

[Dictated by Georgia the cat:]

Purrs to all my furiends out there. Life is good here at Dr.Bert's house. She lets me have anything I want... most of the time. She doesn't like it when I scratch the woodwork by the front door though. But I don't think much of the scratching post. The other cats have left their scents all over it. She promised me a new one, so we'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, she's always taking pictures of me. I'm so tired of that flash thingie... makes me blink a lot.

Here I am relaxing in the living room, tolerating yet another photo session. And take note, my one white whisker has finally fallen out. I've also grown a lot in the last 6 months. I'm bigger than Ebony now, so we don't play much anymore. And my hair has become quite long, so I have to put up with being brushed all the time. Oh well... it's "mommy time" and I can manage it for a few minutes.



Purrs, y'all!

Stamps to the Rescue!

I've been hoping for more pet related stamps from the post office, ever since those Spay-Neuter stamps a few years ago. And now... here they are!

The U.S. Postal Service has partnered with Ellen DeGeneres and Halo: Purely For Pets to provide a million meals for pets in shelters around the U.S. by selling Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps.

The stamps go on sale April 28, but can be preordered now at http://stampstotherescue.com. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness of the plight of millions of animals in shelters that need good homes. About half of all animals that end up in shelters are euthanized every year.

Most of them would have made great pets, if only they'd been given a chance. We all can make a difference by participating in this effort.

You can help by volunteering at a shelter, donating to one, adopting a pet, or just getting the word out by buying these new stamps.

These stamps feature photos of 5 cats (shown above) and 5 dogs, who all came from shelters and were adopted by caring new owners. The adopted pets featured on the stamps were discovered in New Milford, CT by photographer Sally Anderson-Bruce. All had been homeless but now have wonderful new homes.

Updates on Georgia kitty

Here she is again, still playing her heart out. Georgia has lit up our lives here and gotten some of the old-timer kitties off the couch to play with her.


   


Georgia uses the bathtub like a skateboard ramp, then relaxes on the dogs' blanket in the living room. And, if you can make it out in the photo, you can see she still has that one white whisker!

Playful Georgia is at it again!

This playful kitty is all about making every day as much fun as possible. While not all cats are sensitive to catnip, Georgia seems to be especially so. It's her favorite thing to do, although chasing other cats is high on her list as well. Some of them return the attention, and others just run to another room and wait until she's "calmed down."


Here she is rolling in it!

She loves everyone and will play with anybody and anything. What a nut. A truly loveable cat!

In Memory of Miss Tiffany

Tiffany was a gorgeous orange Persian mix I rescued in 2003 from a hoarding house. I got 40 cats out of there that day and Tiff was probably one of the many mama kitties. Half of the cats had to be put down immediately due to disease, deformities and suffering. Of the 20 I took home, about 5 died somewhat soon afterward, over the next couple of weeks.


Tiffany, in her prime

The rest were adopted or simply stayed with me. Then the older ones passed on, one by one, leaving only two: Tiffany and Rufus. You can see Rufus on my rescue site, here: http://www.hipaws.com/aboutcats2.html. He's the pale orange one with 6 toes on front. He's quite the cat, and so was Tiffany.

Sadly, she showed up positive for FIV two years ago. Not sure why, as none of the others did. So she ended up getting her own room, but she was lonely in there. So I agreed to take in others like her so she would have roommates, and soon she was living with another FIV cat, and two with leukemia. All of them died, too, of course, but Tiffany was the ultimate survivor.

I'm not sure how old she was, but she was not a young cat when I got her. My best guess is that she was close to 15 but it wouldn't be a surprise if she were 20. She was always a good eater, and because she had lost all but a few teeth, she had mostly canned food, with occasional meat morsels, cut small. She couldn't do dry kibble toward the end.

Yesterday she had not touched her dinner from the night before, and did not show any interest in eating her breakfast now. I knew her time was close, then. And later in the day, when I went to check on her, there she lay, by her bowls. I just wish I had checked sooner. There was nothing I could have done, except to soothe her and say goodbye as she exited this life...

Thanks to everyone who sent sympathies. Yes, she will be missed for quite some time. She was a gorgeous girl, and so sweet.

Our Newest Kitty Has a New Friend!

After adopting DaLinda, now named Georgia (because that's where she came from), we rescued another black kitty a few weeks ago. We think he was dumped at a well-known store parking lot, possibly by someone who had to move away and couldn't take him with them.

A lot of people also have the notion that cats can "go wild" or somehow learn to survive on their own. Coupled with a belief that a shelter is the worst place to leave a pet, these poor animals often end up in some pretty unhappy circumstances.

We named this one Ebony. It was immediately obvious that this is no ordinary stray cat. He's very friendly and was approaching people entering the store, as if to ask for food and attention. According to clerks inside, he'd been there for several days and was trying to get inside the store.

His diet consisted of weird things people would throw his way, so he was very hungry. I bought him a can of cat food, but didn't have to use it as bait. He came to me right away and went willingly into the pet taxi I always carry with me. Then I opened the can and we took off for home.


Georgia and Ebony

He is now a happy part of our little family (of 47 cats and 3 dogs) and has made a close connection with Georgia, above. They hang out and play together quite a lot. I checked with animal control a few times and no one has ever asked about a lost cat, so I guess we're keeping him. They'd have to fight me by now anyway... he obviously was not being cared for properly... no ID tags, not neutered, etc. But he has all that now!