Packages From Near and Far

Happy Sunday efurryone! My Sunday started out perfect. All three of us kitties snuggled in bed with mom for a really long time while she finished a book she was reading. It must have been a big book cause it took hours and hours to read. Plus there were scritches and games of 'chase mom's fingers under the blankie'. It was lovely.

Now for my excitement this weekend. I got two packages - one from nearby and one from very far away. The first package was the one from far away. It came all the way from New Zealand from my furriend @rumblepurr.

See at the top? It says "New Zealand Post" Isn't that pawsome?

Of course I had to inspect the package furry carefully before I let Mom open it for me.

Sniff, Sniff. I can smell Rumblefamily on it. Cool.

Wait 'til you see what was inside. It was a kiwi. It even made kiwi noises. Isn't it cute? There was also a lovely card from @rumblepurr and a little finger puppet.

Getting acquainted.

 The other box was from Nip and Bones. It had the snail and dental chew toys I ordered with my #pawpawty prize gift certificate, and also a surprise!

See the purple, green, and white fringy thing? That's a Go Cat Go Spiky Ball! I didn't buy it, but it's not a present, either. I got it for a furry special reason.  Baby Patches selected me to be one of her toy testers! I'm so excited about that. We get toys to test and right a review about. Of course, I don't get paid to do reviews. I do them because I want to help Baby Patches and Nip and Bones find just the right stuff fur us to buy.

Well Baby Patches knows how much I like to play fetch, so she thought I'd be the purrfect cat to test out the Spiky Ball to see if Nip and Bones should carry it. We have thirty days to play with and review the toys, but I didn't need thirty days. I've hardly stopped playing with since mom took it off the card for me. Candy and EK like it, too.

Here are the pros and cons, pros first:
It flies well when mom throws it.
It's nice and soft to bite into so I can carry it easily.
It's light enough to bat around and toss in the air.
It's big enough to fight with and almost big enough to bunny kick.
It slides really well on the wood floors.

cons:
It doesn't bounce well.
It's too big to go under the door to play door hockey.

As you can see, the con list is really short.

Here's a video of me playing with it:

That's my review of the Spiky Ball. I would highly recommend it for any cat that likes to play fetch or chase, or likes toys they can carry around in their mouth easily.

Even though these aren't toys that were sent for testing, later in the week I'll do a review of the toys we ordered. One we liked, the other we ignored. Check back later in the week to find out which was which. MOL Have a good week efurryone!

Adopt-A-Cat Month®

As you know, June is Adopt-A-Cat Month®. In honor of Adopt-A-Cat Month® I've added a new page to my blog - I Need a Home Please! On it is a widget that features cats from my favorite shelter, Duncan's Place, a Cat Sanctuary. If you click on it, it takes you to Petfinder.com and you can look up pets everywhere. It looks like this:



I hope you'll visit Petfinder.com. You can get a widget like this one for you own blog. Or, you may just find your new best furriend there!

It's Saturday and that means bloghop! Join the fun.

Adopt the Internet Day

Today is Adopt the Internet Day and Petfinder.com's 15th birthday!

You all know that I was rescued from a trailer park by my mom's friend and given to mom, but not all kitties (or dogs for that matter) are as lucky as I am. Some pets need help finding new homes like EK and Candy. They're both from Duncan's Place.  Duncan's Place lists their available cats on Petfinder.com. Mom looked at lots of cats on Petfinder.com before deciding on EK and Candy.

Did you know that Petfinder.com has other pets besides cats and dogs? They have rabbits, horses, fish, birds, and all kinds of wonderful fuzzy furriends waiting for someone to love them. If your home needs a new addition, Petfinder.com is the place to start.

If you're full up, please join the blog hop and help spread the word.

Pet Carriers

Peek-a-boo! Here I am in my little red tent. I just love love love my little red tent. So do EK and Candy. We love them so much, we have two of them! We play in them, we sleep in them, & we hide in them and jump out to pounce on each other. We have fun every way a kitty can have fun in our tents.

You're probably wondering, "What does this have to do with pet carriers?" Well, I'll tell you. Our magnificent little red tents are actually pet carriers. They have two zippers, so you can arrange them to open front, back or top. There are handles at the top for carrying. We love our tents so much we don't even mind getting in them to go to the v-e-t. That's right. Off to the v-e-t no muss, no fuss, no crying, no hiding. We just get in our tents and go.

We've read about a lot of furriends that have had to visit the v-e-t lately. They dread getting in the PTU (prisoner transport unit). They hide and run away and make it very difficult for their humans to get them in the PTU. Now, none of us, anipal or human,  likes going to the v-e-t. But sometimes you just have to go. So why not make the PTU fun?

Our tents are out all the time. We don't have any warning about being off to the v-e-t since nothing new happens until we get there. Mom scoops us up, puts us in our tents, and off we go. Our first hint that this isn't a new game is when she seatbelts the carrier into the car. And since I've had stroller outings involving the car, for all I know we're going on an outing!

I think everyone should have a fun carrier. I think it would make going to the v-e-t or anywhere else you have to go much less stressful. Don't forget to get nice fleecy beds to put in them. That makes them extra cozy and comfy!

My tent came from Target. I've never seen this type of carrier anywhere else. If any of you know of other fun carriers, post the link in the comments. There's three of us and soon the two little ones will be too big to share and we'll need a third carrier. It would be fun to have a new shape.

Sunday Musings

We must be the luckiest kitties in the whole world! We got wonderful stuff for Yule. Take a look!



A couple of these are videos so you may need to go to Picasa to see them.

Our pal Sweet Praline is pawticipating in Paw it Forward. We told her we wanted to pawticipate, too. So for our Paw it Forward we're gonna give some of our toys to the local shelter. We were gonna take them today, but we were talking to @BabyPatches at the #catmasweve pawty and found out her mama put lots of stuff on sale for after Catmas. So Mom ordered some more stuff from Nip and Bones to add to it. When that stuff gets here, Mom's gonna take it to the local shelter. I think we'll send Evie to snoopervise and report back on the visit.

This has been an interesting year. It started out kind of iffy. As some of you remember, we almost didn't get to keep our pretty house. But the bank people finally saw sense and fixed things so we could afford to keep paying.

Then in the summer, Mom went to Massychewsits. She was gone a long time and I was very lonely without her even though I had a kittysitter. So when Mom came home, I got antsy every day when she went to work. I was always afraid she'd leave me alone again for many days. Mom decided I needed fursibs so I'd never be lonely again. At first I wasn't thrilled with the idea, but as usual, Mom's right. Now that the squirts have been here a while I really like them. And I love having playmates. Even though I like them I'm still gonna call them squirts. MOL

We made some wonderful new furriends this year, but lost some of them before we even really got to know them. I miss Inigo very much. I'm glad Ryker decided to tweet from OTRB because otherwise I'd miss him something terrible. And there were Sniffie, Mookie, Hollie, and so many others. It's been a very sad fall. I wish we didn't ever have to be sad, but just the fact that we're here, blogging, tweeting, and making and losing furriends just shows how lucky we are. Every time I lose a furriend, I think of all the poor animals that don't have homes or furriends at all. Or worse, homes where they're abused. The fact that we're all loved the way we are truly does make us the luckiest animals in the world.

'Summer at the Lake with Petie' did fairly well. 43 copies sold, allowing me to donate over $160 to Duncan's Place. My goal was 100 copies, but I guess that wasn't a realistic goal and I'm pretty happy with how the book did.

Mom's coming up on a very busy time at work, so I'm not gonna get much computer time the next couple of months. Please forgive me if I don't comment on your blogs. I am coming by to visit even when I don't let you know I've been there. I do want to keep up on what's going on with my pals.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope the coming year brings peace and love to everyone, especially those that don't have it right now. I wish everyone in the world had as much love in their lives as we have in ours.

The Excitement Continues.

The excitement from last week continued right through this week. I got great holiday cards from @Ryker_Tyker & family and from @DuchessCrabtree. I also got greeting cards and TokiPoki cards from @Mariodacat, @Yoda_the_Dog, and @BorisKitty. The Pink Kritter Kondo Deluxe that I won from Kritters that Twitter came this week, too. I can't wait for nice weather to try it out.

Then yesterday the doorbell rang and rang. The first package had the Cafe Britt coffee in it that I won from @Petethecat at #pawpawty. Mom hasn't tried the coffee yet because she has a cold and can't taste anything. She wants to wait until she can taste properly before trying the coffee. The next package was a present from Amanda from Greenies - a huge bag of tuna flavored Greenies. I couldn't believe it!

Later in the afternoon Mom went to the mailbox to get the mail and came back with more packages! The beautiful bear I won from @I_am_fuzzy showed up. That was really a surprise because Evie (that's the bear's name) came all the way from England! Her compartment even got opened in customs and still only took a week to get here. On top of that, the necklace for Candy that I won from @MizzBassie came yesterday, too. What a day!

There are too many pictures for me to stick them in here, so I just put one picture. If you click on it, it links to the album with all the pictures and even a couple of videos.

I know there's more excitement coming because Mom's been hiding stuff from us for Catmus. If we aren't the most spoiled rotten kitties on the planet, I don't know who is! I sometimes feel guilty because I know there are so many animals that need lots of help and don't even have safe places to live or food to eat. I purr and purray for them every day and do what I can to help. I think after Catmus we need to go through all the toys and take some to the local shelter.

Happy Holidays my furriends. Lots of love to everyone.

Sunday Musings

Lots of news today. First the fursib news. Candy & EK went to the v-e-t yesterday for checkups. They were subjected to the dreaded alien butt probes (shudder) and injections. The poor things. Then today, Candy was trying to get her collar off and made her paw bleed. Mom checked and all her claws are intact and she's ok. Mom put her in the big bathroom and cuddled with her for a while so she'd rest and not play.

Now my news. This weekend was #pawpawty and @I_am_fuzzy's birthday pawty. I won prizes at both pawties! From @I_am_fuzzy I won a beautiful pink bear. This picture was posted in twitpic by @I_am_fuzzy. At #pawpawty I won coffee for Mom donated by @petiethecat. Mom just loves her coffee so she's happy I won something for her. And now the biggest news of all!

Do you see the picture? Do you know what that is? That's right my pals. I was one of the lucky winners of a Pink Kritter Kondo Deluxe from our wonderful friends over at Kritters That Twitter. I hope they don't mind that I borrowed this picture from them for my blog, but it ships tomorrow so I won't have my own pics for a while. I can't stop dancing I'm so happy.

@flicka47

Back to #pawpawty for a bit. Mom had a bunch of really cool holiday stuff in the basement just collecting dust. We don't really celebrate Catmus, but people keep giving her Catmus stuff. We decided some of them would make perfect #pawpawty prizes. Why should they collect dust when someone else might really enjoy having them? Plus, it helps the shelters and makes #pawpawty more fun for everyone. So, concatulations to @flicka47, @sadlovelyheart, @hanseebundee, and @pepismartdog who won the prizes.

@sadlovelyheart

@pepismartdog

@hanseebundee

Sorry the pictures are all over the place. I just couldn't get them where I wanted them no matter what I tried! Anyway, that's it for this weekend. Talk to you next week!

Thankful Thursday

So far I've sold 34 copies of Summer at the Lake with Petie. Today I received my first payment in the amount of $119. I haven't been paid for all the copies yet so there's more money coming (but not until next month)! I took great joy in going to Duncan's Place and clicking on their donate button and donating that money. As both Blurb.com and Duncan's Place both use Paypal, it was very easy.

Ordering is very easy, too. Just click on the picture below and it will take you to the order page!

The deadline for ordering in time for Christmas in the U.S. is December 12. Blurb.com delivers all over the world, so don't think you can't order if you live outside the U.S.

Thank you to everyone who has or is going to order Summer at the Lake with Petie. And Happy Holidays to all!

Random Stuff on a Tuesday

Guess what I got today! A picture of GinaTheMinPin reading 'Summer at the Lake with Petie'. How cool is this?

Catching up on my reading

And another wonderful friend, @BunnyJeanCook, has written about the book on her blog, Bunny's Blog. Now, if you've never visited Bunny's Blog, you should. Unlike yours truly, Bunny tackles important stuff on her blog. Here's just a couple of the things she's written about:

Help Pawcurious Help Homeless Pets
Adopt a Less-Adoptable Pet Week

I hope you'll all add Bunny's Blog to your reading list!

If anyone else wants to send me a picture of themselves reading Summer at the Lake with Petie, please do! Maybe I'll make a whole page of the pictures.

In other news, @BorisKitty is still collecting green papers to help Peanut and Kiki's families with the v-e-t bills. These poor kitties were shot with a pellet gun and need lots of v-e-t help. And that means lots and lots of green papers. So help out anyway you can, even if it's just one or two little papers.

I'm sorry to say that I'm going to end on a sad note here. Yet another beautiful angel, Whiska Pusskat, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge to get his wings. You can read about him here: Whiska Pusskat: In Memorium. I hope you'll all stop by and say a word or two to his family.

There have been so many furriends crossing the bridge lately that I'm thinking I should add an 'In Memorium' page to my blog. Except I'm wondering if that's just a little morbid. What do you think?

In case we don't get to talk to each other again before Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving!

Edit: Here's @smokey8's sisfer, Princess.

She's been doing a lot of reading. Looks like she just finished not just  'Summer at the Lake with Petie', but also 'welcom to my werld' by my pal Henry Steiff (@henryandfriends). Looks like Princess is quite the reader. Now all she needs are copies of @maxthequiltcat's book, 'The Zen of Max' and @CheshireK's book,'Please Send Money' (which I read and thoroughly enjoyed).

Speaking of  'The Zen of Max', I won a copy from the drawing on Max's blog! I'll be doing a review of it after I read it. Can't wait!

A Book About Love

We've spent a lot of time in #pawcircles and porchsitting lately. We've seen too many furriends cross the Rainbow Bridge in a very short time. When our furriends cross the bridge, the circles are for love and comfort. But sometimes, the #pawcircles and porchsitting result in a furriend getting better. This book is about a success story. This book is about the miracles that love can work.

As we all know, our pal Petie (@Petethecat) had a difficult summer. When we heard our furriend was sick, we all did what anipals do in times of trouble - we banded together to help Petie get better. And Petie did get better! In fact, he's getting married very soon to the wonderful Pandora (@Pandafur).

@toughteddybear with his copy of
'Summer at the Lake with Petie'

It was just an amazing summer, and I wanted something to remember it by. I thought others might like to have something, too. So I put together a book: 'Summer at the Lake with Petie'. I gathered together stories, poems, pictures, memories, and whatever else pals wanted to submit to the book. There is a link in the sidebar to order the book and you can see sample pages there. The book is getting rave reviews from everyone who has already gotten a copy.

This book is special not just because it's about our love for Petie and the miracles that love can work. The proceeds of this book benefit the cat sanctuary that Candy and EK came from  - Duncan's Place. It's a wonderful group of people who foster cats in their homes, help them find furever homes, and help families down on their luck keep their pets with them. I wrote about them in an earlier blog - Blog the Change - Duncan's Place.

One thing we've all said over and over the last several weeks is how lucky our now lost pals were to have had loving homes. I want all the kitties at Duncan's Place to have that, too. Selling 'Summer at the Lake with Petie' is one of the projects I have going on trying to raise money to help them take care of and find homes for the cats in their care. My goal is to sell 100 copies of the book. So far, 30 copies have been sold, so there's still a long way to go.

I want to thank some pals who have been helping to spread the word about Summer at the Lake with Petie:

Rumblepurr put a link up on his blog: Rumblebum.

Whskr And Dash wrote a blog article about it on their blog and plan on writing another: Dash Kitten's Musings.

Blind Maximus wrote a blog entry and put up a widget for ordering Summer at the Lake with Petie on his blog, Adventures of a Blind Dog in a Big World.

I do have the best furriends! If anyone else is interested in putting a link or a widget on your blog, let me know. I'll send you the code.

I also have a chip-in on my blog for pals who want to donate. Or you can go to Duncan's Place web site and donate there. Whether you order Summer at the Lake with Petie or donate through my chip in or directly on their site, I hope you'll choose to do something, no matter how small, to help Duncan's Place. I want every cat to be as lucky as I've been.

Much love to my furriends,
Pumpkin (@Pumpkinpuddy)

News!

All kinds of news this week. The first item is that the book about #lakewithpetie is finished and ready to order. It's called Summer at the Lake with Petie and is available here: Summer at the Lake with Petie. You can see a preview at the right. I was thrilled at how many pals sent stuff for me to put in the book! There are poems, stories, pictures, memories, and even original artwork. We have some very talented anipals in our community. Not only is this a wonderful way to remember the amazing summer we had, but the proceeds are going to Duncan's Place cat sanctuary. It will make a great Crispmouse present for your humans, so buy lots of copies!

Duncan's Place cat sanctuary is also where my brofurs are coming from. Cathy at Duncan's Place cat sanctuary sent me more pictures of them.

I finally have names for them. The cream colored one is gonna be Evel Kneivel and just EK for short. We've been told he's a bit of a daredevil. The grey and white one is gonna be Bandit because he looks like he's wearing a mask. Mom's picking them up Friday night!


Edit: Just found out from Cathy at Duncan's Place - turns out the grey & white one is a girl. So instead of 2 brofurs I'm gonna have a sisfur and a brofur. Cathy called her Babette and I think I'm just gonna call her that and not change her name again. Bad enough everyone thought she was a boy and called her Bob all these weeks. I'm not gonna change her name yet again.

So that's the good news. Now the sad news. We lost our good friend, Gunner, this week. He crossed the bridge on Thursday. PepiSmartDog escorted him across the bridge and arranged a wonderful welcome banquet for him. The banquet was held at Nipclub so that all the anipals could see Gunner off and wish him a good crossing. It was a wonderful banquet for a wonderful pal.

That's if for this week. Next week I'll have lots of news after the brofurs get here. Wish me luck! Smoochies!

Anipal Photo Hunt #12: All Souls' Day

You've heard me talk about the cats Mom had before I came along. If you read my interview on Cat's Who Twitter you know their story. Well now you get to see their faces.

 This is Beastie. Look at that face and you can tell where the name came from. MOL. She was Mom's first kitty. Mom got her from a neighbor as a kitten and she lived to be 16 1/2. Mom said she actually wasn't a beastie, but was very sweet. Her daddy was a Persian kitty and Beastie inherited her beautiful fluff from him.

This is Sheena. She passed last Thanksgiving at 18 years old! She lived the longest of any cat Mom's had. She came to Mom as a kitten from a coworker. I got to meet this kitty before she went to the bridge. She and Pixie were best friends and she was very lonely when Pixie passed. Mom got me as a playmate for Sheena, but Sheena didn't live very long after I was adopted. I guess I came to Mom just in time to keep her from being lonely without Sheena.

This is Pixie. Someone threw her out of a van. Mom tried to find her that night and couldn't. Six weeks later after a snowstorm, she showed up on Mom's porch. She was all wet, cold, matted, and starving. Mom took her in and it was love at first sight. She lived with Mom for 12 1/2 years before she passed. I look a lot like her except I have a nice floofy tail and Pixie didn't have a tail. Mom thinks she was part Manx.


I'm lucky to have had them as sisfurs, even if I didn't get to meet them. They were the cats that taught Mom how to open her heart and home to kitties. They also taught Mom that cats were meant to be loved and spoiled. And boy am I spoiled!

Please join this week's photo blog hop and tell us about the ones in your life that came before you that you want to honor.

My Gotcha Day!

Happy Sunday everyone! Today's a very special day. It's my Gotcha Day! One year ago today I came to live with Mom, and it's been a fantastic year. I won't go into details 'cause you guys hear me brag on my Mom all the time, so you already know how spoiled and lucky I am.

I only got a small present, but good things come in small packages. And this package had my favorite treats - freeze dried shrimps! I may be getting something else. Mom was looking at the Petco website today. I wonder if she ordered anything?

It's also 3 weeks until the brofurs arrive. I guess I'm sort of looking forward to that. Mom's gone so much that it will be nice to have company and someone to play with.

The Lake with Petie book is half done, and looking pretty good if I do say so myself. I've heard from some pals that you want to add stuff to the book. Well get busy and get that stuff in to me or the book will be done. I'm hoping to finish it up next weekend. I'm gonna have a few pals look it over before printing to see if I left out anything important. I really want to have it done soon, so please get stuff to me this week. I think this book will not just be a great memory book of the fun we had at the lake, but also a good present for our humans for the holidays coming up. They can see what we do when they're not looking! MOL! And don't forget, the proceeds go to Duncan's Place, so it's for a good cause, too.

I have to apologize to @joeybeancat. I said I'd write about his howloween costume contest and then forgot and now the contest is over. I'm very sorry. *hangs head in shame* Please forgive me.

That's it for this Sunday. Love to all my pals!

Introducing GREENIES® JointCare Treats for Dogs

I've never written about a product that I haven't used before this, but today I'm making an exception. I got an email today from GREENIES® about a new product for dogs. I thought I'd pass this info along because many of my doggie pals do have joint problems. I know this is especially true for big doggies. They get hip problems a lot. Since you're gonna get your doggies treats anyway, might as well buy treats that may help them feel better, too. Besides, who doesn't love GREENIES®?

What follows below is quoted in its entirety from the email. I've received no compensation for posting this info. The photo was provided by GREENIES®.

Introducing GREENIES® JointCare Treats for Dogs

A Nutritious, Tasty Way to Promote Healthy Joints for Life

Nashville, TN – October 21, 2010 – The GREENIES® Brand—makers of the #1 vet-recommended pet specialty dental chews**—has introduced GREENIES® JointCare Treats, designed to maintain dogs’ healthy mobility.

GREENIES® JointCare Treats contain Green-Lipped Mussel, a species indigenous to New Zealand. A very low incidence of mobility issues in natives, for whom Green-Lipped Mussel is a regular part of their diet, caught the attention of researchers. Applying that to dogs, The Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition performed clinical studies that demonstrated that certain nutrients contained in Green-Lipped Mussel, including omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins E and C, glucosamine, chondroitin and other amino acids and minerals have a beneficial effect on canine joint health.

“Our philosophy as a company has always been to create treats for pets that have specific health benefits. We’re excited to bring the knowledge we’ve gained from being a leader in pet oral health and medicine compliance to the joint health category,” said Bradley Quest, DVM, product development veterinarian.

GREENIES® JointCare Treats help to protect the mobility of adult dogs of all ages and sizes by nourishing healthy joints. JointCare Treats are for daily use and should be given to pets as part of a complete joint health program that includes diet, exercise and, if needed, medications prescribed by the veterinarian.

GREENIES® JointCare Treats are available in two sizes for small/medium and large dogs at pet specialty products retailers and will be available in the coming months in many veterinary clinics.

# # #

About The Nutro Company

The Nutro Company is a leading manufacturer of natural* pet food products sold exclusively at pet specialty stores. The company has been making "The World's Best Pet Food" for more than 80 years and is dedicated to quality, excellence and innovation in dog and cat nutrition offering healthful formulas for every pet's life stage, activity level and size. The Nutro Company's family of brands includes MAX®, NATURAL CHOICE® dog and cat foods and ULTRA™ food for dogs in addition to the GREENIES® brands, which include the #1 vet recommended pet specialty dental chews** and PILL POCKETS® treats. For more information, please visit www.thenutrocompany.com and www.greenies.com.

*Natural fortified with added vitamins and minerals

*Among veterinarians that recommend dental chews/treats for at home oral care


®/™ Trademarks © The Nutro Company 2010

U.S. Pat. No. D614,830

Blog the Change - Duncan's Place

Pumpkin's Mom here. Pumpkin's letting me take over her blog for today.

I started this blog just for fun. It never even occurred to me that it would be anything other than fun. About the same time I started this blog I got involved in the Twitter Anipal community and started reading other pals blogs. I saw what others were doing with their blogs and with the connections they made through Twitter. I decided I needed to learn more about using social networking to help others and went to BlogPaws West 2010. I came away from BlogPaws determined to do what I could to help. I'm still going to have fun with my blog, but I'm also going to try to do some good with it.

I contacted some shelters letting them know I was looking for someplace to sponsor on my blog. It was amazing that none of the places got back to me. I finally had success when I contacted Duncan's Place. Duncan's Place is a cat sanctuary started by Cathy Campbell. They don't have a facility, so they foster cats in homes until they can adopt them out. Their mission is to make sure every cat in their community has home. I think that's a pretty awesome mission.

From Cathy: "Duncan's Place is named after my late beloved kitty. He was my first cat,and a lot of little furry lives owe a lot to him. Duncan was a Scottish Fold and was a rescue, too. I now have another Fold, Ainsley, who is also a rescue. The neat thing about Folds is that they can all trace their ancestry back to the same female Suzie, so Ainsley and Duncan are related."

I had a nice long talk yesterday with Cathy and asked her some questions. I was really curious about how she was able to run a successful cat sanctuary without a facility. It turns out she does manage to do it -  and quite well, too. Since 2008 when Duncans Place opened, they've rescued 133 and adopted out 113 cats. Not bad for a small operation with no building of its own.

Here are the questions I asked and her answers. Unfortunately I'm not great at taking notes, so the answers are all my paraphrasing and not direct quotes from Cathy.

Q: What happens to cats you can't place?
A: They stay in foster care until they're adopted. Sometimes they're adopted by the family that fosters them. None of the cats have ever been sent to another shelter because it couldn't be placed. They also try not to move the cats around to different fosters so the cats have nice, stable, comfy homes where they're cared for as part of the family until they find their forever home. Duncan's Place is a no-kill sanctuary, and cats stay in foster care until they find homes.

Q: Is the sanctuary how you support yourself or do you have another job, too?
A: Cathy is not supported by the sanctuary. She works as a vet tech and also as a massage therapist, both for humans and for animals. How she finds the time to run the sanctuary and coordinate supply distribution, listing the animals for adoptions, arranging adoptions, making sure all the cats are properly cared for, keeping up the website, getting donations, and doing all the other things that need to be done is amazing! I don't think I could do it.

Q: Do the fosters supply everything for the cats or do they get supplies from the Sanctuary?
A: Both. Duncan's Place has some extremely generous donors that give them lots of supplies. The foster parents buy some things themselves and the rest comes from the food and other items donated to Duncan's Place. These supplies are also distributed to families that need help feeding their pets and also to people helping to feed feral cat colonies.

Q: Do you find it's harder to get donations without a facility?
A: It's more difficult to get donations from the general public, but they've had some success getting donations from some corporations and some of the local businesses. Here is a list of some of the corporate donations they've received.

• Merrick Pet Food
• Avoderm Pet foods
• Drinkwell
• Bach's Flower Essences
• Catit Drinking fountains(Hagen pet company)
• Hartz
• Dr. Esley's Precious cat litter
• Idexx laboratories(FIV/FeLV/HWE tests)
• Home Depot(shed & cat enclosure)
• Lumber Liquidators(donated laminate flooring)
• Tiki Pet Products

That's a very impressive list for an organization that hasn't been around that long. And impressive as that list is, it still doesn't cover all the costs they incur. There's an equally impressive list of individual donors, but they still need help. Caring for so many cats and trying to help people in the community who need assistance caring for their pets takes a lot of resources.

Q: Is it hard to place the cats without a facility where people can just come and see them?
A: It is a little harder when people have to make appointments. On the other hand, people who make appointments are more serious about adopting. Out of 113 adoptions, only 3 cats have been returned. That seems like a pretty good track record to me!

Q: Would you like to have a facility someday?
A: Yes. Cathy would like to have a facility where the cats could be cared for in a cage-free environment. She doesn't want a large place, just a small one where the cats could get enough individual attention and be cared for in a loving environment until they find their forever homes.

I learned something about cats in foster care, too. Since they live as part of the family and interact with everyone in the household (including kids and other pets), they tend to adapt well to their new homes after adoption. I'd never thought about this before. All my cats came from friends whose cats had kittens, or were rescued from the street.

Duncan's place is about finding homes for cats. Sometimes that means helping families in distress keep their pets with them. This can be help with spaying or neutering, vaccinations, food and litter, or whatever else they can think of to keep cat and family together.

They also work with Northern Colorado Friends of Ferals. They help with the trap, neuter, release program. They've also taken in ferals that were young enough to socialize and helped them find homes.

Most of you already know about my first project to help the sanctuary - The Lake With Petie Memory Book. Pals have been sending me pictures, stories, poems, and memories to put in the book. The proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to Duncan's Place. I was hoping to have the book finished by the end of the month, but I'm waiting for one of the contributors to come back from vacation, so the book may not be ready until November. I'm still taking submissions, so if you want to add anything DM Pumpkinpuddy and I'll send you the email address to send it to. Please remember that you must have the right to publish whatever you send me. We used a lot of cute stuff that was copyrighted for #lakewithpetie tweets. That's considered fair use. But since this book is going to be sold, we cannot use that stuff without violating copyrights, so be careful what you send.

I've also signed on with Sponsered Tweets. Watch for the hashtag #ad on my tweets. For every #ad tweet link that gets clicked, I earn money. All money earned from ad clicks will be donated to Duncan's place. (@Boriskitty is doing the same thing for the places he supports, so please click on links in his ads, too.)

Sorry this is so long. Now you know where Pumpkin gets if from! Check out the Duncan's Place website, and if you can, make a donation. You can find them at duncansplace.org. You can also find Duncan's Place on Facebook (Duncans Place).

Pet Gear AT3 Stroller Review - Update

I've had my new stroller for a couple of weeks now and I want to compare the old one and the new one.

 Old stroller.

 New stroller.

This is the second generation of the stroller that I had. As you can see, it no longer has the big pet step sticking out in the front. This makes the stroller more compact, more maneuverable, and easier to fold up and put in the car. But that's just the first improvement!

The drink tray, which in the old version was so difficult to put on, now comes attached. The fabric cover has been slightly redesigned and zips with ease. The mesh windows are lighter so it's easier for me to see out and for Mom to see me.

The way the stroller folds has been changed completely and is now so easy I could do it! (If I had opposable thumbs. MOL.)

The front wheel is now the same size as the other two wheels. The wheels simply snap on. And more important, they can now be removed to be replaced if by some miracle you actually manage to wear them out.

The only thing on the version that I would consider a negative is that the basket underneath sits much closer to the body of the stroller which makes it harder to put things in it. But frankly, everything else is soooooo much better that it really doesn't matter. I thought this stroller was pawsome when I had the first generation of it. The new version is miles above the old one. I would recommend this stroller to anyone wanting wheels for their pet.

I've had a few requests for tips for buying a stroller. So here they are!

Pumpkin's Tips for Fancy Wheels for your Pets

Bring the stroller in the house and let your pet get used to it before trying to take him/her out in it. Also, get your pet used to wearing a harness. Even though I’m enclosed in the stroller, I’m also harnessed and on a leash attached to the stroller. This way Mom can open the stroller to give me water or treats and I can’t run off. The leash and harness also help with getting me from the carrier to the stroller if we’ve gone somewhere in the car. I can’t run off while Mom’s taking me out of one and putting me in the other. I wouldn’t run off anyway, but you can’t be too careful. 

Mom also always brings something for me to play with in the stroller. Usually it’s my duckie, Fred. As much fun as riding in the stroller is, sometimes it’s nice to have a toy to play with.

My stroller came with a nice pad in the bottom, but Mom put a fleece bed in anyway. I like fleecy beds and Mom wanted to make the stroller extra inviting. And like any other time you’re training your four legged furriend to something new, make sure lots and lots of treats are involved!

When picking a stroller, think about how you’ll use it, how big your pet is, and what fits you. How easy or difficult is it to use? Will you take it in the car a lot? How easily does it fold and unfold? What kind of terrain do you walk on? Lots of the paths around here are mulch or hardpack (very fine gravel). The strollers with the little wheels would get stuck, so we got all terrain wheels. How tall are you? Mom also liked this stroller because it’s very tall and she’s on the tall side. Some people don’t mind using a stroller with a lower handle even if they are tall and then other things would be more important. Will you need to haul anything in it beside the pet (like a picnic)? She also liked that there’s a basket for stuff underneath and a tray for drinks and keys and other small stuff (like the flashy box).

There are lots of strollers to choose from. Some can go from carrier to backpack to stroller. That would have been nice because I wouldn’t have to go from carrier to stroller when we go in the car. But we couldn’t find one with big wheels. There are double-decker ones for people with multiple pets. There’s every color of the rainbow to choose from. There are strollers special for small pets all the way up to one like mine that’s for 60 lb. pets. Of course, I don’t weigh anywhere near 60 lbs. MOL! But Mom liked everything else about the stroller and I have lots of room to play in. Look at several before picking one. If you don’t get the best one for your needs, likes, and that suits your pet you won’t like it.

I think a stroller is a great way for people to take their pets with them to places they otherwise wouldn’t get to go. Without it, I’d always get left behind when Mom goes out. Now we get to go fun places and have more together time. What’s better than that?

Barr Lake State Park

Mom took me someplace new today - Barr Lake State Park. This park has a nature reserve area (that pets aren't allowed in) and a part that has a boating dock. The trail around the lake is over 8 miles, but we just did a couple of miles. It may be fall on the calendar, but it was 90 degrees today and there's very little shade on the trail.






This is one of Mom's favorite parks because it has over 300 kinds of birds. I'm not sure I believe her because we didn't see hardly any birds. But we did see lots of these:

The water in the lake was very low. It's the end of the season and most of it has evaporated. In the spring the water comes practically up to the trail.

 We also saw some things I've never seen before. Mom said the little fuzzy one is called a woolly worm. What a funny name! The big one is called a horse. I have a horse pal on twitter, but I didn't know horses were this big and that a person could ride one.

There's more pictures. You can see them here: Barr Lake State Park. And here's a video. The video is just leaves, but listen real hard. You can hear the cicadas in the trees. It was really loud.

Like I said, it was hot and we didn't find much shade, so we didn't stay very long. Cooler weather is coming and I'm looking forward to longer outings and visiting more new places.

Good idea from Yoda the Dog's blog

Yoda wrote about making his blog carbon neutral and how we all can do that, too. Well, Mommy planted lots of trees in the yard when she first moved in, but I want to plant my own tree. So I followed the directions from Yoda's blog and planted my own tree. If you click on my carbon neutral badge it will take you to the site that will help you plant your very own tree! We live in a very pretty place and I want it to stay that way, so let's plant lots  of trees!

Sunday musings

One of Mom's friends got a stroller for her kitty, and another is thinking about getting one for her kitties. Soon we'll have a whole kitty walking club! We've had icky weather, so we haven't been for any walks lately. When the weather gets nice we're going to meet up with Mom's friend and spend the day in the park. I can't wait to make new kitty friends. Mom says they're Maine Coons, like me, but about 3 times my size. I can't imagine kitties being that enormous!

Mom's been very busy making music. Last week it was Beatles music. Next week it will be Broadway music. Later this month she's singing in two very special pieces - John Adams 'Transmigration of Souls' and Beethoven's Ninth symphony. One is a tribute to the people that died in the World Trade Center, and the other is a celebration of life. Sometimes I wish I was a person so I could go to the symphony and hear the chorus sing.

I don't know why some things I do annoy Mom so much. Just cause I have to smell everything she eats. I climb on her and sniff her breath (I practically stick my nose in her mouth) and stick my face in her plate. She always pushes me away and tells me I have no manners. I also follow her into the bathroom all the time. She says she doesn't bug me when I'm in the litter box, so why do I bug her in the bathroom? But bathrooms have all kinds of interesting smells. Don't people understand that kitties like to smell things? And people smells are very different from kitty smells. I have to investigate those!

My new cushion and harness came, and they were both too small. The cushion was too small for my stroller and the harness was too small for me. It's Mom's fault. She didn't measure the inside of the stroller, and she didn't measure me! She figured I'm a little kitty so she got me a small harness. Turns out I needed a large! If a little thing like me needs a large harness, I don't know what people with enormous kitties get for them. Anyway, Mom sent them back and is now waiting for the bigger ones to come. Sigh.

I guess that's enough musings for a Sunday. Kitty kisses to all my friends! I miss you all and as much as I'm proud of Mommy's music making, I'll be glad when she's not so busy and I can spend more time online visiting with you all. At least I get to keep up with your blogs, but I don't get to spend much time on Facebook or Twitter. TTFN

It’s windy outside!

As Mom told you, we live on the plains. It's very, very windy here. But today it's windier than I've ever heard before. It's blowing so hard it makes the windows rattle and I can hear it in the vents. It's pretty scary when it gets this windy. When the wind gets really bad, we have to watch the news to see if there's going to be a tornado. I've never seen a tornado, but Mom says they're very scary. She said I don't have to be scared tonight. The wind's not blowing that hard and it's not storming (like it was this morning).

Mom said she's lived here 4 years and there's never been a tornado real close to the house. But there will be times we'll have to hide from the wind just in case. The TV will tell us when we have to hide. Mom also got a kit from the ASPCA that lets recue workers know I'm here just in case something happens to the house and she can't help me.

You know how people say talking about stuff helps? The wind isn't as scary anymore.