ASPCA drag...

I've been trying to volunteer at the ASPCA for four months--and every time I sign up for a volunteer orientation, I'm not fast enough at responding and it gets filled up. It's very frustrating. I've wanted to volunteer for a very long time and finally decided that I just had to do it. Yeah--easier said than done. Well, I'm supposed to go to the next orientation on December 15th. Hopefully that session doesn't get filled up too fast and I'll be able to go. Otherwise, I'm thinking that I might have to volunteer at a different animal shelter. I'm thinking I might do Bide-A-Wee. All I care about is trying to help out animals and make a little bit of a difference.

My brother has been going on and on about how he wants to get a dog recently. I'm lukewarm to the idea--he is a little on the irresponsible side. He works late, he sleeps over his girlfriend's house on the weekends, his apartment is not huge (it's actually on the tiny side), and since he lives in the boonies of Staten Island, neither my mom or I live close enough to help him out if he's in a pinch. So in reality, getting a dog isn't the best idea, but I'm having a hard time convincing him that a cat would suit his lifestyle better (god knows I find enough of them). The other thing that sort of bugs me abotu the whole wanting to get a dog idea is that he is determined to get a Sibearian Husky. Gorgeous animals, I know. But he wanted to go to a PET STORE to get one. I freaked out on him, telling him all about puppy mills and how inhumane they really are; how sick the animals can be that come from mills; and how they tend to have a much shorter life-span than animals adopted or gotten from a breeder. So he then tells me he wants to get a puppy from a breeder. Now here's the thing--he works a lot. That is a good thing, in my opinion, but it's not ideal for someone getting a new puppy. Puppies take a lot of time and energy to train and take care of. He doesn't really have that kind of time. So I suggested that he should try to adopt a dog--a full-grown one that is already housebroken--and save himself not only money (Huskys are expensive if you get them from a good breeder), but he'd also save an animal from living out their life in a shelter or possibly being euthenized. He's lukewarm on the idea. I don't know why. I makes me angry to tell you the truth. Especially when I found so many huskys for adoption, and even found a NY/NJ husky rescue group called Husky House. After I showed him a bunch of the animals, he put in an application, but we haven't heard from them yet. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I wish he would either listen to me and adopt an older dog that could really use a good home that wouldn't need to be trained as much, get a cat, or not get an animal at all unless he's really willing to put in the time and effort. I get so mad when people rush into getting pets without really thinking about the long-term consequences of their actions. Dogs and cats can live up to 20 years! That is a long time--and a big responsibility. If people took that responsibility seriously, I doubt there would be as many animals in shelters.

New Sawyer Pics...

Sawyer was looking particularly adorable last night...so of course I needed to take pictures of him :-)

Meow!



This was from a couple of weeks ago, but how cute are they??? Meow! Meow!

It's been a year since Katrina...

And I still can't believe what we went through last year--I don't think I'll ever get over it. My therapist says that one of the reasons I rescue cats is because I have abandonment issues--because I felt throughly and totally abandoned down in NOLA (though that isn't the only reason, I can assure you). I was thinking of reposting all of those blogs here in one really, really long blog, and will a little later in the day. In the meantime, here is a link to the links of those blogs if you absolutely cannot wait. I am just so thankful that we got out when we did...because I was looking at the water on Canal Street, the day after the hurricane, and keep thinking to myself that if we hadn't left to go to the airport Sunday morning August 28, 2005, that is exactly where we would have been...

Hurricane Katrina blogs

Please take a look at this article from the Humane Society about the rescued animals from Hurricane Katrina. It also gives you a link to show you how you can donate...if you can find it in your heart, the animals would really appreciate it.

The Animals After the Storm

Asparagus...

Really makes your pee stink. It especially makes your cat's pee stink though. Our new kitty, Sawyer, happily ate a stalk of asparagus (along with almost half of my crab cake) at dinner last night, and his pee is lethal. No more asparagus for kitty. Meow!

Eeeewww!

Hairless cats look like aliens. Freaky I tell you! I'm not the only one who thinks so. If you check out the website Kittenwar and click on the losingest (weird word, I know) kittens, you will see a plethora, a plethora of hairless cats. They just look odd. You can't tell me you'd rather snuggle with this Grendel:



Over this Grendel:

Snapfish...

I got pictures from Snapfish yesterday--and I proceeded to come into work this morning and immediately make a collage of kitty pictures because that is just how nuts I am...

From the top left going clockwise...Melora (Vivian's kitty--white & black), Elphie (grey) & Grendel (orange & white), Sawyer (grey and tan tiger striped), Helena (black & white), and Grendel...

Helena got spayed!

I took Helena to get spayed this morning and just got a phone call a little while ago that the surgery is complete and everything is fine! Hooray! I was so stressed this morning, I was actually weeping like a lunatic when they took her in. All of our kitties are like babies to me, but Helena is special because Brad and I found her together. She's really like our child. She was so good too. The vet had to actually try to get her to stop purring by making her smell an alchol swab so she could listen to her heart. She was just purring like a little happy girly.

I'm so relieved that everything is okay. Animal Kind (our vet) is such a great hospital. Most vets don't keep cats overnight when they are spayed or neutered, but Animal Kind does because there is always a risk that the kitty will run a temperature and then need antibotics to prevent infection. I'm not happy that she won't be with us tonight, but it makes me feel good to know that they are taking such good care of her. We're going to visit her tonight (have you ever heard of a vet that has visiting hours??!) and then we get to take her home tomorrow. I can't wait to see her! Meow!

Helena hanging out in my closet:

New Fav Blog!!!

I am obsessed with "my favorites" lately--as you can tell by all my "My favorite" titles of blogs lately. I can't help it. Life is pretty darn good and I would rather point out the good things to share than bitch.

Anyway, I've been checking out lots of new blogs lately, and by far, my current favorite is www.CuteOverload.com How can you go wrong with tons of cute pictures that make you coo like a retard. I click into this site at least once a day to get my cuteness fix. Love it.

Grendel

Our cat Grendel has a Myspace profile. The other cats have them too (I'll make one for Sawyer soon--Elphie and Helena have one each), but Grendel is by far the most popular. He has 184 friends--nearly twice as many as I have. I don't understand how that happens--especially since I don't really spend any time on trying to get him to meet new "cat friends," but that hasn't stopped people from asking to be his friend on a fairly regular basis. He's one popular cat!

Sawyer doesn't sleep...

Last night, for some reason, I thought it might be a good idea to let Sawyer hang out in the bedroom with me while I did some freelance work. He made himself very comfortable, attacked my feet and my papers a few times, and then retreated to the throw rug next to my bed and night stand; I dangled my hand over the bed and he'd occasionally swat at it. When it was time for bed, I closed him into the office (which is right next to the bedroom) and tried to go to sleep. The other cats came and took their usual places--Grendel at the foot of the bed, Elphie under the covers between my legs (not comfortable by the way), and Helena curled against my side. But Sawyer was voicing his discontent--loudly. He got sleepy I suppose, and eventually fell asleep.

Well Mr. Spoiled-Brat (or Mr. Pudding-Pop as Vivian likes to call him) decided at 4:00 am that he'd had enough of solitary and started meowing. Loudly. For more than a half hour. At 4:30 in the morning, I don't argue, I just removed Grendel to the couch (where Elphie and Helena already were), closed the bedroom door, and let Sawyer out. He proceeded to make himself comfortable on the throw rug on the side of my bed where he remained for the rest of the night, occasionally peeping up and hitting my hand with his paw. I am so in love with him.

Yet another new kitty...

Many of you know that Brad and I rescued Melora back in September of last year, and eventually, after much debate, gave her to Vivian. Well, very similar to Melora's story, is Sawyer's, our latest rescue mission. Sawyer has also been living at the bodega up the corner, and I suppose, because it has been so cold out, we haven't seen him outside and running around at night because the bodega has been keeping him inside (I hope)...well Friday night, as I was getting off the train, the bodega was closing for the night (it was around 7 pm) and I saw him outside the store arond 50 feet from the door--and they were closing the gates with him outside. I got him to come to me and started petting him (mind you, I was in full view of the bodega owners--you would think that if they actually cared about what happened to him, they would have at least tried to keep me from petting him, or at the very least stuck around to make sure I didn't take him). I waited until they left, and then, whosh! I scooped him up and started walking home cradling him in my arms.


As I was walking up the block to my, a girl in a car was stopped me to talk--she mentioned that she knew who he belonged to and I told her that I knew too, had already rescued one of the other kitties they had, and that since the bodega people don't take care of their cats, I was taking him home and going to find a home for him--and I'd probably keep doing it until they learned how to take care of their animals. She grinned and said, "Good. He's better off with you any day." Vindicated, I got little Sawyer home and put him in the bathroom (our kitty depot since that is where any new kitty we get makes his or her first stop in our house), and got him all set up--food, water, snuggly bed, extra litter box we keep on hand for just such occasions--and tried to make him comfy. He seemed a little scared and skittish, but I can't really say that I blame him. Brad and I had dinner reservations, so we left to go eat and discuss what to do with Sawyer. As it stands right now, we are thinking that we're going to try and find a home for him. Having Melora stay with us for the past month made us realize how much extra work a fourth cat is, and how much our cats don't take kindly to newcomers. It's funny, because when we found Melora, Brad was the one who really wanted to keep her. Now with Sawyer, it's completely opposite and I really want to keep him. I'm not sure why that is exactly, but it's the truth. I really, really want to keep him. We'll see what happens though. One can never count on anything--except that cats find me everywhere I go. Check out the link below to see more pics of Sawyer! He is so darn cute.
Sawyer, the new kitty

Proof that I really am a crazy cat lady...

In addition to the three cats we have, we're watching our "joint-custody cat"--a kitty we resuced several months ago and gave to our dear friend Vivian. Viv asked us to watch Melora-flora (far left) while she was taking care of her family dog Nino who is recovering from surgery...Meow! Four kitties! That's a lot of cat poop every day, let me tell you...