Hello There Furiends,
I hope all is well in your neck of the the woods. We are surrounded by fires in our neck of the woods as are some of our blogging furiends. Today we’re thinking about  Barb, Alex, Marv, JoJo, Kozmo and Cinnamon from Cats-Astrophic Events. Today is Marv’s birthday and normally you’d see a big pawty and celebration on their blog but the fire in their area has knocked out the internet so it’s up to the rest of us to celebrate! The official pawty is taking place at Zoolatry so if you’d like to leave birthday wishes for Marv, head on over there and he’ll be able to see all his birthday wishes after he’s back on the web. And if you want to know more about Marv, check out his video on our Cat Chat segment. He has some pawsome things to say.

Oliver, Lily and I were busy celebrating holidays this week, some have passed and some are coming up so we thought we’d share some of our special holiday photos.

Well, that’s enough holidays for now, we’ll share some more next week. Now let’s see what feline newsworthy items we found on the web this week.

Massachusetts woman’s lost cat turns up six years later

I love happy endings and this ending is really happy! A lady in Massachusetts was heartbroken when her cat escaped from her third-floor condo through a loose window screen.

Margaret Kudzma’s cat, Mini Max, escaped in 2015, and she did everything she could to find the cat, posters, online posts and newspaper ads, all to no avail.  

Kudzma even ended up founding her own nonprofit rescue group, The Rescue Business, in 2016 when the search for Mini Max led her to discover a large colony of feral cats living in her neighborhood.

Needless to say, she was shocked when she received a phone call from Dr. Samantha Simonelli, a Wakefield veterinarian who found her information on the microchip of a cat that had been brought in with ear mites.

Kudzma learned Mini Max had been spotted in Revere, where a family fed the feline for several months before moving him into their house. They brought him to the vet when they noticed his ear mites, and that’s when the microchip information was discovered.

“A true miracle has occurred,” Kudzma said in a Facebook post. “Thank you everyone who participated in this search!”

Kudzma said she is having Mini Max thoroughly examined to ensure he does not have any other health issues or lingering injuries from his jump out of her third-floor window.

Humans, I can’t say this enough. When you find a kitty think LOST not stray and get that cat to someplace where they can see if the feline is microchipped.

A Colorado Springs plant store’s shop cat brings smiles to whoever walks in

Working cats rock and Marley draws customers to Summerland Gardens in Colorado Springs for the plants-and the feline. Marley is a hard worker, on the job every day either at the front counter, hanging out in a box of seeds or patrolling the place, looking for pets and skritches.

The owner of Summerland Gardens, Julie McIntyre said she never wanted a shop cat. She had a shop dog and felt she’d reached her animal quota.  That changed twelve years ago when she met Marley.

She called him Marley because he’s so mellow and easy going. He waltzes around the business as though he’s the one that runs the place. Marley is king of all he surveys.

Customers can enjoy “Marley Mondays”  and post Marley photos on Instagram. Now there are even Marley stickers for sale at the shop with all proceeds going to cat shelters.

Marley is working hard to reduce stress and bring happiness to all who visit Summerland Gardens. Paws up for Marley, doing his job and making his little corner of the world a better place.

Animal Shelter Creates Hilarious Bio for Cat Called Dave

Hey, I get it. It’s hard to come up with spiffy descriptions of all the kitties in the shelter who are looking for their forever home. And sometimes, you humans have to let loose and have some fun, just like the human at The Cats Cradle Shelter in Fargo, N.D.

The description reads, “Look at him, he’s a perfect Dave. The kind of Dave who’s quiet, calm and sometimes overlooked, but is the best neighbor on the block.” And the shelter also listed some of Dave’s talents such as,  “Dave will snow-blow your drive before you come home from a winter vacation, so you can drive right into your garage, Dave will keep an eye on your house every day when you take the kids to California for a week.”

And if those talents aren’t enough the shelter continues, “Dave will shop-vac your carpets and set up fans when the sump pump quits and your basement floods a little bit, two days before you are due to fly home. He’ll call your shared insurance guy, take pictures, get everything cleaned up, and not tell you until you get home, because he doesn’t want to ruin your trip.” And Dave doesn’t do anything half-way when it comes to caring for his humans, “Dave will make sure there’s beer in the fridge and tells nice fishing tales. “Adopt Dave. He’s too good for this world,”

Well, it looks like someone may have adopted Dave because we sent our Purrsonal Assistant to the shelter page to see if Dave was still there but he is gone. We sure hope he’s relaxing with his new humans in his forever home in North Dakota.

Rescue cats inspire mental health author to create tool for navigating change

Mental health clinician, Dianne Salvador had her mind and heart changed when she rescued L’il Fox and Ming Ming. As she got to know her felines, she realized that her kitties could help others navigate change and wrote a book called Cat Shapes  as a tool to help with change.  She says that the knack cats have to transform captured her imagination and she thought the cat’s ability to adapt could help humans too.

She observed her feiines and identified 28 shapes (or ways of approaching a situation) used by cats.

Ms. Salvador wants to turn change into a positive and she feels that using the example of cats will help to do that.

*Note, I sent our Purrsonal Assistant all over the inter-web to find a link to this book and the one I’ve included is the only one she could find.

See 8 ‘purr-fect’ Portland cat patios in person or online: 2021 Catio Tour fundraiser

Meowza, what a great fund raising idea! We have a garden tour in our neck of the woods every summer and it’s a great fundraiser. This catio tour is brilliant! And, the stories about the catios on the tour are pretty interesting. Take, for instance, Sheryl Hirschbein who wanted a safe playground for her felines, Goober and Mango. Her kitties got an Asian inspired catio connected to 80 feet of sky bridges. Oh my whiskers, that place sounds like kitty heaven.

Mango and Goober have identification microchips on their collars that open the flaps to let them in their catio (and keep other critters out).  I’d say Goober and Mango are living their best life for sure as are the other catio owning felines in Portland.

This tour is produced by The Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon and Portland Audubon (to encourage cat owners to build catios and keep the felines from going after birds). If you are in the Portland area you can purchase tickets at Cats Safe at Home Campaign.

And, if you would like to build a catio for  your own feline furiends, there are some good ideas in the article.  If you live in a place like our neck of the woods where winter is snowy and chilly, you may want to consider a “popup catio” like we have at our house.