Making some progress ...

I just thought I'd give you all a little update on the Maine Coon stray who has been hanging around every night and my hubby has been feeding. She still eats cat treats from the palm of his hand, but she is still a bit skitterish about being petted.

Pretty little thing, isn't she? We haven't given up on her yet. We think there may still be some hope for her and it is fairly obvious that she is a "people" cat! Last night I sat on the front door step watching her as she made herself comfortable laying in our driveway.  As not to scare her, I just talked to her in a very soft voice and when I looked at her, I blinked my eyes very slowly until she returned the gesture. She eventually did. I really think that she would make an awesome addition to our little cat family ~ only time will tell!

Catlore and some great books!

As a fellow cat enthusiast, I am always on the prowl for new and fascinating things (or at least to learn about things I never knew before)!  Cat folklore, superstitions and proverbs intrigue me and so I thought that I might share some of the interesting cat info which I have found with you all.

Here are just a few:

* If a cat continually looks out the window on any given day, rain is on the way

* Some cats can predict earthquakes (there is actually some proven truth to this one!)

* Cats are believed to be able to see human auras

*A cat sleeping with their four paws tucked underneath their body means bad weather is coming

* If a cat sits with their back to the fire, this foretold a cold spell

* If a cat sneezes once, it means there will be rain. If they sneeze three times, the family will catch a cold

* Early Americans believed that if a cat washed her face in front of several people, the first person she looked at would be the first to get married

* Tortoiseshell cats were believed to be able to see into the future and could also give this gift to a lucky child in the household

* When the pupil of a cat's eye gets big (broadens), it is a sign of rain

* The Pennsylvania Dutch used to place a cat in the empty cradle of a newlywed couple and the cat was supposed to grant their wish for children

* In England, it was believed that if a black cat lived in your house, the young lass would have numerous suitors

* It was onced believed that fur and blood drawn from various parts of a cat's body would cure all ailments

* In Tell-Basta (which was at one time the Egyptian city of Bubastis), a graveyard holding 300,000 mummified holy cats was discovered. A few were sent to museums.

* A kitten born in May will be a witches cat

Pretty wild stuff, huh?  I also wanted to share these two books with you which I had read many years ago and, to this day, I refuse to part with them  ~ both were written by the renowned author Desmond Morris ...

These are both really great books and I would highly recommend them to any cat lover! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Midnight Crazies

Last night, I was really tired and went to bed a bit earlier than normal. My cat, Midnight, always follows me to bed no matter what time I turn in. So, last night he decided to jump off of my pillow at around 1:00am. The next thing I know, I hear he and one of our other cats, Kiki, wrestling around rather roughly out in the living room. Kiki screams and hisses which prompted me to immediately get up out of bed to quickly intervene before someone got seriously hurt.

A couple of minutes later, I hear yet another loud scream coming from, of course, Kiki. So, once again I ran out into the living room and this time I scooped up Midnight, closed the bedroom door behind me, placed him on my pillow and said to him, "Now you settle down!" (like THAT is really going to work, right?) LOL!

I have to admit that I was rather irritated by this point as I had to get up for work in just three hours! My very first instinct was to scold him, but then I remembered that usually does not work with cats. Then I thought about something that Jackson Galaxy always says ~ "Whenever you say 'no'  to something, make sure you always put a 'yes' behind it." Believe it or not, it really does work!

And with that thought in mind, I started gently stroking Midnight (who, by the way, was not too thrilled that I not only closed the door behind him but put him on my pillow without it being his idea) from head to tail. It wasn't long before he began to purr loudly and eventually calmed down to the point where I could allow him back into the living room again with Kiki.  All because I said 'no' to the rough play, but 'yes' to the undivided attention he received on my pillow.

I swear, life with cats is never a dull moment in this house! LOL!

Midnight 'n' Kiki

Have a Blessed Friday All!!

"EVERY LIFE SHOULD HAVE NINE CATS"

(image credit)

Special handmade gifts ...

A few years ago, my brother decided to make me a few handmade items for the house. He worked at Rickle's Hardware Store at the time and surprised me with some special wooden cat items ...

He stencilled the names of my beloved cats, Sabrina and Maggie, who passed away about 5 years ago. This one I particularly cherish!

A small bench which I keep in the cat's room

A beautiful table with roses stencilled on it which we keep in the living room

As you can see, all of these things are indeed very, very special to me and they are irreplaceable!

Midnight's Song

MIDNIGHT'S SONG

Forever greets me at the door

Who could ever ask for more?

My cat, my friend, my beautiful boy

My heart, my furry pride and joy

Sent to me by Heaven above,

to fill my life with your sweet love

You give so much and ask for naught

Except our love for which you sought

Loving soul whose always there
Who likes to follow me everywhere
Precious feline, one of a kind
Another of whom I shall never find

~ Lady Caer Morganna

A little cat humor ...

"Cats make you work for their affection, they don't sell out the way dogs do."  

           ~ Robert DiNiro as "Jack Burns" in Meet The Parents

"If you call a dog, he will come to you. If you call a cat, he will take a message and get back to you later!"



(image credits)

A Different Perspective

(I couldn't make up my mind which one of my blogs to post this on, so I decided to do something I never ever do, post it on both):

For the past couple of years, I have been donating money whenever possible to certain organizations. One of those organizations is a no-kill animal shelter called, "Animals In Distress." (A.I.D.)

Their facilities are the best I have ever seen. However, I never stopped to wonder just "how" places like this could afford such a great shelter for all their unwanted animals, whom by the way, they do work extremely hard to get good homes for.

I am ashamed to admit that, after reading Jackson Galaxy's new book "Cat Daddy," I found out how most no-kill shelters can "afford" to do such awesome work. Jackson used to work at an animal shelter in Boulder, Co. and had to do and see many terrible things ~ including putting down perfectly healthy animals who deserved loving homes. You see, no-kill shelters, as he explained, "pick and choose" the animals they take in. Even though some no-kill organizations such as Animals In Distress actually do take in injured animals who are in very bad shape and spend the money to get them healthy, give them physical therapy, or whatever they need, many others do not. And; therefore, organizations such as The Humane Society and The Animal Rescue League tend to get those unwanted animals which are turned down by most no-kill shelters. I, myself, made the mistake of thinking that, even though ALL animal shelters are in dire need of donations for unwanted or abandoned animals, that the no-kill shelters need it more because they refuse to euthanize any of the animals in their care. Needless to say, I was wrong to have that mind set.

That being said, I have decided to not only continue to donate to Animals In Distress, but I will also make more donations whenever possible to The Humane Society, The ASPCA, and other non no-kill shelters as well.

I realize that even though I can't save the world, these animals deserve a chance at having a good life and I need to do whatever I can ~ as do we all.

The "Real" Stray Cats ...

Tonight, hubby was able to get a few shots of a couple of the stray cats he has been feeding outside in front of our garage door, including the Maine Coon kitty...

Maine Coon kitty

Here you can see the Maine Coon cat and another gray and white kitty way in the back (see the glowing eyes?)

A closer yet creepy pic of the other gray and white cat

Eating some cats treats

Bon appetit, guys!!!

How much is that Maine Coon in the driveway?

As some of you may already know, my hubby has been feeding the neighborhood strays for about two months now. One of them is a gorgeous, and I mean GORGEOUS, Maine Coon-looking cat. She (or he) is light gray with faint tabby stripes.

In a weeks' time, he has managed to get this cat to walk up to him close enough to eat cat treats out of the palm of his hand. We think she may have been a house cat at one point and possibly abandoned.

This is similar to what she looks like

We once had a beautiful female Maine Coon named Sabrina who passed away about 5 years ago. WE miss her terribly and although we know that we could never ever replace her, we would love to give this pretty little kitty a chance to live with us.

Our Sabrina posing with Barney, one of the Mini Lop bunnies we used to have as a house rabbit

Barney, Sabrina and Maggie

We will, of course, continue to take care of this outside kitty in hopes of bringing her in with us. But, it is like I always say, if it is meant to be it will be and if it isn't, well then, I guess it isn't. However, we are praying that it is! 

Midnight's favorite 'strut'

You may want to scroll down and hit the "paws" button on my Witchy Cats Playlist so that you can watch this special video my cat Midnight picked out for you called, "Stray Cat Strut" by The Stray Cats. It is truly a cat lovers favorite! And also one for the alley, uh, I mean road called, "I Won't Stand in Your Way" ~ another awesome Stray Cats song!

"I Won't Stand in Your Way" ~ The Stray Cats (featuring Brian Setzer)

http://youtu.be/tHybHsNUmJ4

"It's Like This, Cat"

As a child, my favorite book was (without a doubt),  a children's novel called "It's Like This, Cat" written by Emily Cheney Neville. In fact, I loved the book so much that I decided to write my English class book report on it. Got a B+ actually. I remember because, believe it or not, I still  have the original paper which I had written back in my 4th grade year ~ LOL!

Looking back, even then, I was fascinated with cats. To be honest, I was rasied around nothing but dogs as my mom would never, at least back then, allow me to have a cat in the house. Funny thing is that as time went by, she, too, grew to love cats as well. Go figure.

This story revolves around a young man named Dave Mitchell who lives in New York and, in spite of his father's urging him to get a dog because "they are educational," decides to befriend a stray cat whom he simply names "Cat."  His close friend Kate, also known as "Aunt Kate" or "Crazy Kate," also lived with a few strays which she had taken into her home. He also finds friendship with two older boys named Nick and Tom, and two young girls ~ both witches (humm, cats and witches ~ coincidence?)

In short, this book deals with many different situations which one must face as a child growing up. In Dave's case, his mother's serious medical problems, his "grouchy" old father, his eccentric friend Kate, his friend having to move away from him, as well as the subject of death. 

I loved this story growing up and, oddly enough, it has still stayed with me somehow after all of these many years. Strange how that happens, eh?

A little cat humor ...

A little cat humor ~  well, maybe not so much for this poor guy?  Have a great Sunday everyone!!!