sorta lost treats

I was suppose to let Kintaro and TT sampl and review the new Orijen Freeze Dried Cat Treats from Chewy.com. Right after we received the package, I let them try a few treats each. They LOVED them. Scarfed them right up. I thought to myself, this will be a great photo op and review. However, fate had a different idea of how this review should turn out.

I put those tasty treats up in a safe place since we were going to be having company over for supper. Since they were out of site, they were out of mind. Well, my mind anyways. Apparently, they were still on the minds of Kintaro and TT. Apparently, I did not put them up in a safe enough place. Apparently, my cats are smarter than I give them credit for. I found the bag the treats WERE in. Yup, they ate all the treats. Not a single crumb left.  

This review was suppose to be up in December. I did remember the treats on couple of occasions but were unable to locate my "safe" hiding place. I thought it was strange that I could not find the treats. Since my little furry thieves hid the evidence, I repeatedly forget all about the treats and the review.

Our official review of Orijen Freeze Dried Cat Treats.
Kintaro and TT give a sneaky, scarf those yummy treats "5 toes" up (if they had opposable thumbs, it would be 4 toes and 1 thumbs up) to the new Orijen Freeze Dried Treats for Cats.

Natural Balance Platefuls

We are reviewing Natural Balance Platefuls for Chewy.com.  These are grain free (no corn, soy, or wheat) and have no artificial flavors or colors. We received no monetary compensation for our review.

Kintaro and TT tried the Chicken & Giblets in Gravy and the Turkey, Chicken & Duck in Gravy formulas.

As you can see, Kintaro is a little messy when he eats. He had a little trouble with the food as it was in slices. He cannot seem to be able to eat those slices that adhere from the side and bottom of the plate. Kintaro has a somewhat smooth tongue and prefers pate' or ground food.

TT, on the other hand, had no problems getting those slices into her tummy. She is notorious for removing food from the bowl to eat it off of the floor.  

 This photo shows the slices in gravy. Lots of morsels and enough gravy to coat them.

A couple more photos of TT and Kintaro enjoying their samples.

I did have to sprinkle a few fishy flakes on the first bowl I gave to Kintaro. He is somewhat picky and he knew this wasn't his regular canned cat food. Once Kintaro tasted it, he liked it. I did like the handy pouches. No utensils were needed to open and pour into the plates.

We are still here!

We haven't posted in a little while. Things have been busy here but everyone is well. As soon as I get the gazillion photos off of my phone, I will be posting some updated shots of Kintaro & TT. Meanwhile, today is Labor Day. We are trying not to do much labor.

somethin' different . . . Dog Treats!!!

Today we did something different. The good folks over at chewy.com sent us an email asking if we would like to try out some treats. DOG treats! Well, since we do have doggies AND we know some of you other cool cats have doggie friends, we said "Yes!"

Today we are trying some Black Angus Beef Treats.

 

 Our expert taste testers are Brownie, Big Boy and Penny. As you can tell, they are drooling as they wait to try out the treats.

 

According to the package, the treats are 100% pure beef (single animal source). They have other flavors too. The treats are from canada and are part of champion pet foods. There is a paragraph on the back of the package that states the company is passionate about the authenticity of their foods. They focus on ingredients raised within their own region by people they know and trust. They prepare the origen treats in their own freeze dry kitchens.

AND the results are: "MOM, can we have more?!?! PULEEEAASE!!!!"

 

These treats are 100%  YUMMY! as certified by the doggies of kazoku neko.

P.S.  TT could smell that there was something yummy in the bag. So, TT and Kintaro had to try one. So I split one up so they could "see" what the doggies got to eat. They loved it. I do not recommend giving dog treats to cats. However, if my super picky cats liked the treats they must be super delicious.

not good mews but GREAT mews!!!

In our last post we told you about a cat that we found. Pretty little Gracie went HOME! I had posted about finding her in a local lost pet group on facebook. Someone finally recognized her and messaged me. She went home that evening!

To finish off our great mews post, Buddy has been accepted at Rikki's Refuge! This is a super group that helps so many different animals. Now they will be helping Buddy become adoptable! I am so excited. I will be helping in the transport to get him up to the refuge. Please visit their website and support their efforts by sharing and, if you can, donating.

One more thing, please keep all of the people helping with the transports in your prayers. Drivers give up their time and money to help animals in need. It takes a lot of work to put together and arrange a transport. Be a cheerleader for the animals, drivers, fosters, planners and rescues!

We need help!

We have a problem. If anyone out there in the cat blogosphere can help, it would be greatly appreciated.

As many of you know, I rescued Buddy from a trap that a woman had set in her yard. If I would not have taken him, she was going to "dispose" of him. I just could not let that happen.

I have had Buddy neutered. I also had him tested and he is Fiv+. I know this is not a death sentence. It just means Buddy needs a little extra care. Buddy is a hissy cat. He hisses at us whenever we approach. He never strikes out or bites. Buddy loves being brushed. Buddy really loves to eat. He is now on a diet to lose the pounds that I didn't realize he had put on since his favorite position is the "meatloaf" position. Here he is sitting up in the photo. Can you tell Buddy is a bit round for his height?!?!

Recently we found a young cat in our yard. She is so friendly. She also happened to be in heat. We brought her in and proceeded to try and find her home. She was way too clean and healthy to be a stray. Our efforts have failed. She is smart as they come. She understands "down" but always seems to jump back up after a few minutes. Typical teenager/cat. LOL We think she is fairly young and this was her first heat cycle. We have also discovered that she can be quite clutzy when she tries to jump up on anything. We joke that she is graceless. So her name is now Gracee. I haven't had a chance to get her tested for all those nasty diseases so I try to keep her separate from Kintaro and TT. Did I mention how she is so persistent that she managed to open her crate twice by herself? We now have a tie on it so she can't escape. She loves her feather toys! She plays with them until they submit to her.

So now I have 2 cats that I am taking care of. Unfortunately, I can no longer care for them. My new business takes up so much of my time. What used to be a 40 hour work week is closer to 50+ hours a week. I am working way too many hours each week to work with Buddy in an effort to help him become more trusting of people. Poor Gracee stays in a crate until I can spend a couple of hours in the kitchen with the doors closed to let her out and play while I do paperwork for my business.

What these two cats need is a home, a real home with people that want, will care for, spend time with them and, most of all, love them. I will do anything I can to help get them to the right home(s). Our local shelter is full (kitten season) and is not a "no kill shelter". Buddy can't go there as he would be deemed "unadoptable". Gracee has a better chance but cute kittens beat out an (almost) adult cat more times than not. Since the shelter is full, I am worried that if I take Gracee that another cat will have "to go" in order to make room for her. I can't stand the thought of that happening.

It breaks my heart to have to let them go to another home. But it is not fair to them to have to live this way. Is there anyone out there that will step up and take a chance on either one of these two? Perhaps, you might know someone that might be interested? Would you please share this story, this plea for help with them? 

Thank you,
momsbusy, Buddy, & Gracee

today is tt tuesday

tt here! mom took a picture of my behind while i was eating. wasn't that rude of her?!?! of course my ploofy tail is beautiful.

 my face is so cute, i am adorable, i have extreme cuteness.

A new post!

Time has certainly flown by! I can't believe it has been 5 months since we posted last. It has been a busy time for our family. Beside the usual craziness from the holidays, there was a special birthday for our girl (she turned sweet 16), two grand babies turned 4 years old, one daughter turned 30 something, a new grand baby was brought into our family (he was born in september), and the business I have worked at for over 30 years split into two separate businesses (I bought one of the halves).

Enough of the small talk, it is time to see how the kitties are doing!

Today's kitty is Speedy. He is the little kitten (just a week old) my mom found and brought home. He was way too young to be out on his own where my mom found him. He is now spoiled rotten. He has serious catitude and rarely stays still long enough for me to get a photo or two that is not blurry. He will be a year old next month (I think).

dona nobis pacem 2012

today is a special day

the gerl says it is a special day because it is her/our moms birthday. we think it is will be special because she will be going out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate. for us it means a kitty bag/box will be coming home for us. we heard something about seafood. that means shrimp! we all love real live deaded shrimps. 

oh yeah,

happy birthday mom!

p.s. don't forget our shrimps.

tt

kintaro

buddy

  brownie big boy

  penny

buddy (formerly known as mr. kitty)

i have been working with buddy for about 5 months now. somehow i felt his former name, "mr. kitty", just didn't fit this guy. although he wears a tux, he is more of a low key, laid back kinda guy. more like a good buddy. hence, he became my buddy boy or buddy.

in the last week, i noticed he was acting like he was trying to hack up a hairball. then he started making a wheezing sound friday evening. i took him to the vet to see if he needed some antibiotics. keep in mind buddy is still feral, so this was an interesting adventure to say the least. we ended up having to sedate him for the exam. while there, i figured i better go ahead and have him tested for heartworms, fiv and felv (hope i got all those abbreviations right). the blood work showed his white cell count was low. vet said his heart and lungs were fine so he was thinking allergies. i thought great! buddy will get a steroid shot and we can go home. when the vet came back in the room he said he could not give him the shot because he tested positive for fiv. he showed me the little test thingie (kinda like a pregnancy test thing). i was really hoping buddy was going to be all negatives on that test. but given his age (vet says around 6 years), living outside and that he had been intact when i rescued him, well, i guess it was nothing more than wishful thinking.

so now buddy cannot be integrated into my cat family. my house is not set up for him to have his own room. i feel bad about having had to keep him in a really large dog crate for this long but now i can't let him out either. i started giving him l-lysine last night. i am hoping this will make him feel better since there is no cure. i don't know how long he has before the virus kicks in and he goes to the bridge. i will have to read up on feline fiv.

i am going to have to figure out what is best for buddy.

missing my two girls

missing my two girls today. kimiko (calico) was always my baby. she talked to me, gave me head bonks and was always so attentive and loving. yuki (white) became my lap cat as her health failed. she was always so aloof. but age and illness softened her heart and she needed me as much as i needed her. kintaro and tt are not lap cats. they give kitty kisses and love attention but it is always on their terms. i love kintaro and tt but i really miss having a kitty in my lap purring away my stress. i have had a lot on my plate lately which is why my posts are so few and far between. i think i might have to go find me a kitty fix.

mini mancat monday

so much has been going on! my parents rescued a kitten. they found him too close to the roadside near their home. he was only a few days old then.

 
he is 10 weeks old now. they have named him "speedy". he is spoiled rotten and enjoying his new life in his forever home. his sister meme, who is also a rescue, is slowly warming up to him but she still thinks the little terror is a real pest.

i am having no luck with getting mr. kitty to come to the realization that people are ok. although he is enjoying his yummy meals and climate controlled quarters, he is just not interested in being touched, spoken to or even looked at. so now i am looking for a barn or other similar home for mr. kitty. he is a healthy 14 pounds of solid cat. he has been fixed and has his rabies shot. so if you know of anyone that needs a barn cat, please contact me.

celebrations!!!

we are celebrating our 300th post this weekend! mom said we can do whatever we want. so we are going to take some long naps, eat treats and play with da' bird! mom is going to make chicken and dumplings for supper. that means we get to lick the sauce off of her fingers!


we are also celebrating a rescue! we would like you to meet mr. kitty (aka houdini).

mom rescued him from a person who trapped him and was going to dispose of him. he was in the trap outside in the cold rain (that is why he is wet in the photo). mom got him into a crate and gave him a blanket to lay on. mr. kitty is still scared even though he has been living in our den for about 3 weeks. he is eating the same dry food and stinky goodness we eat. but he only eats and drinks when he knows no one will see him. mr. kitty escaped from the huge crate mom had him in so he is living in our den. he stays hid until he thinks the coast is clear. mom wants him to know he has food, water, and shelter here. she wants to get him neutered and UTD on shots. but first she needs to get mr. kitty to trust her enough to let her touch him. once she gets him all fixed up, she wants to find him a home of his own. if he continues to stay scared of people then she wants to find him a nice home as a barn cat. a friend of hers knows someone who loves barn cats but he has coyotes that like to visit his property. mom really doesn't want to let him go there. she would prefer mr. kitty has a safer place to live.

mom here. this poor guy is still scared of people after 3 weeks in my den. we are not pushing him to be friendly. small baby steps. my daughter will watch tv in the den and we still use the den as the main entrance/exit into the backyard. the scratches on his face have healed. i think he got them trying to escape the trap he was caught in. he is a nice size and seems otherwise healthy.

mom adopted 3 cats!

kintaro and tt here: 

mom found a store that has lots of cats living there. they are all waiting to be adopted. mom said they were cats of different sizes and colors. we were worried we was gonna have to share our stinky goodness with them. then mom said there were not real live cats. we didn't understand why she would want to buy real live dead cats. we thought mom must be getting that old timers disease or something. then she said the store had cat statues. fake cats!?!?!?! why would she waste good green papers to buy fake cats? we think she should have used those green papers to buy us real live cats more treats! 

when i chaperoned a field trip the other week i found this small store. it is called Go Fish. they are a clothing and jewelry store with lots of cat statues. the website is nice but doesn't have all of the items that are in the picture at the store i visited. the store i went to is on Main Street in Greenville, South Carolina. they also have lots of giraffe statues too. one of the giraffes was taller than me (i am 5'2")! the ladies that worked there were so nice and helpful. i asked them if they would mind if i took a photo of some of the kitties and shared them with my fellow cat bloggers. as you can see by the photo, there are lots of kitties. the statues in the photo are made of a very light weight wood. they are all handmade so no two look exactly alike.  Go Fish is a fair trade store.

mancat monday

we would like to let everyone know how much all of the purrs and prayers meant to us. mom is doing well. sometimes she gets a little quiet, other times she laughs really loud when she plays with us. tt is trying to decide her place now that she is the only girl kitty. yuki was always in the same room as mom. today tt stayed in the living room with mom. not in her lap but in the same room. i guess we will see what happens as time goes by. 

mom found my cow bed. she put it out for me. i climbed in and it came alive!!! it tried to eat me! mom got a photo of me trying to escape. 

don't worry. i got away and mom made the cow bed promise not to eat me again.

not so easy sunday

the old adage that "life is like a roller coaster" with its up, downs, and twisty path would best describe my life right now. our family has been dealing with a lot for quite awhile. my mother in law is 92 and refuses to admit she has any health problems that would require her to move in with us or an assisted living home.  my parents are also up in years. although my mom seems to be doing well, my dad is not. he was exposed to agent orange and has medical problems galore. in the last month he has been to the emergency room twice and admitted to the hospital both times. my husband and i are both "only children". so this has really put our normal schedules into over drive.

as i type this post, yuki is on my desk with my arms encircling her. she is giving up her long fight against bad kidneys. she has been giving us hints this past week that she was almost ready for her trip across the bridge. yesterday i knew it would be in the next day or two. she hardly ate, she was having problems with balance, and she wanted to sleep next to kintaro. kintaro was a gentleman and let her have all of his favorite blanket she wanted. it was bittersweet as i knew in my heart what was coming.

my heart is breaking as i spend this time with her. please say a prayer for my old girl. i would like her trip over the bridge to be one she can look forward to. all of my kittys that came before waiting for her on the other side. especially cheebie, yuki loved him, he was her protector.

yuki, i will have a bag of fishy flakes in my pocket just for you when we meet at the bridge.

penny is missing!

 penny is the black and brown woofie.

penny, our woofie, is missing. she was here this morning but she ranned away before mom got home from work today. brownie and big boy stayed home so mom and dad think penny figured out how to jump the fence. mom, dad, and the gerl went looking for her. they called and whistled but penny never answered. the gerl is very sad tonight. mom and dad are worried penny can't find her way home. mom is gonna call local animal control and the SPCA in case. she is gonna make posters and take them to the local animal doctors too. mom posted to one of the local animal groups on her facebook. please pray for penny to get home safe. even if we don't like the woofies so much we don't like our beans being so upset even more.

PENNY CAME HOME!!!!!!

mom got up early cuz she had penny on her mind. she was sitting at the computer looking at the kitties and heard big boy barking. she peeped out the window and saw penny on the sidewalk by our front steps. she was going to the fence where big boy was. mom almost broke the door down to get it open. mom called for penny and she came running up the steps to her. mom said she did something she has never done before - she lay down like she was humbling herself to mom. she thought she was gonna be in troubles. mom had to drag her into the house (never had to do that either) and gave her lots of hugs and pets. penny still thinks she is gonna get in big trouble but mom is a (old) softie.

*sigh* i guess we is back to normal now.

we are supporting the blackout

we got this info directly from iblog 

SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act. The Act itself allows 
copyright holders to challenge the use of their content in any form on 
the internet. But recently it has caused quite a stir in the Internet 
community with the web censorship bills.

Thousands of people, including tech giants such as Facebook and Google, have opposed the web censorship bill, saying it would effectively censor the web and place unfair demands on content providers. A few infringing links would be enough to block a site completely.

Sites like GoDaddy has already burnt their fingers by supporting SOPA. The internet community strongly reacted against GoDaddy on their decision to support SOPA. Due tho this several GoDaddy customers started migrating their domains and hosting services to another hosting company.

A number of websites including Wikipedia, Firefox, Reddit and others are planning to blackout their websites on Jan 18th, 2012, to protest the web censorship bills. So if you are too thinking to join the movement and protest again SOPA/PIPA, you can show your support by adding any of these plugins to your blog.

If you don’t want a complete blackout on your website, you can show your support by adding a black ribbon, to your site template. Blogger and WordPress users can add a black ribbon to their blogs with the following code.

mancat monday