The Saddest Cat in Ohio

Yesterday I was stuck at a gas station in the city of Medina, Ohio for an hour.  It was there that I met the saddest young cat, probably between 6-9 months old based on his/her size.  The pictures are a little out of focus, but you can see that it had white and tan markings, beautiful blue eyes, and matted fur.  I could see fleas or similar insects on his coat, and his left ear appeared to be bitten.  He had trouble walking, and it was difficult for him to chew food as he appeared to have either no teeth or very few.

The cat was so friendly and desperate for love that he was walking all over the tiny gas station parking lot, bringing him at risk of getting run over by a truck.  I went into the gas station and bought him a can of wet cat food, and when I put it down for him, I realized that this poor cat was likely blind.  He wanted the food, but he could only sniff for it and seemed to look right through me.  I put down the food and he took a very long time to eat it despite wet food typically being easier for cats to chew.

I called the Medina SPCA, but since it was Sunday, they were closed and I have not heard back.  I tried calling the Cleveland APL, but they were also closed and only take animals if they are dropped off and I had no way of transporting the cat.  The local animal shelter still uses the gas chamber (according to a google search anyway) so I could not call them. When I left, I cried about having to leave this cat in these horrible conditions.  If I didn't already have 2 cats, I likely would have taken him with me, but I was hours from home and couldn't bring a very ill cat in with my own cats and risk their health and safety.  It was still one of the hardest things I have had to do.

Please, if you live near Medina or can contact their SPCA, help this cat.  I literally can't stop thinking about his sad little face just wanting a little love and attention.  I was told that the cat has been hanging out at this station for at least a week, but I can't imagine that he will survive much longer on his own.  In honor of the last day of 'Adopt a Cat month', please help this little guy survive to at least experience some compassion.  The address of the gas station that I found him at is 2968 Ridge Rd, Medina, OH 44256.

My Activist Pets

I love my pets so much that I decided to use their unique personalities and characteristics to help promote causes and spread important information on pet adoption and care.

Kita, a Siberian Husky, is a sweet, playful dog that loves every animal and human he meets.  His page has more information on him and other huskies, along with details on dog adoption.

Pearl, a mixed breed puppy, has had some challenges to overcome.  Her page provides helpful sites for puppy owners and a list of sites that can be used to learn more about dogs and ways to be an animal activist.

Seph, a senior tuxedo cat, is the leader of our household.  He keeps all of the other pets in line and is always quick to offer help and support.  His site promotes cat rescue and adoption, some ways to help animals in need, and sites that pet owners can use to find important information on their health and welfare.

Zoey, an orange and white long-haired cat, is very shy and sweet.  He was a troublemaker for the first few years of her life, but he has matured into a great family member.  He is my right-hand man so his site is dedicated to on ways to become an activist for humanitarian causes.

Please take a moment to visit each of their pages; you can find links to each page to the right side of my blog.  Each page will be updated regularly and I welcome any suggested links that I can add to any of the pages or any notices of any dead links.

Fellow Pet Parents in the U.S., please take a moment to help protect our beloved pets.

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I just posted a comment on Regulations.gov to let them know that I support stricter pet product guidelines.  The Docket # is 2011-N-0922

You can find more information on this issue at Care2 by reading this article.

This is what I posted in my comment to the FDA:

Please help protect our beloved family members. Some people choose to take care of animals as opposed to having children and these pets bring us constant love and happiness. We give these pets everything to make them happy, and the thought that giving them a treat to bring them momentary happiness could kill them is devastating. As more animals that are killed from tainted pet products, people will stop buying their pets treats. It is simply not worth the risk of losing our beloved pets. Manufacturers should understand that even if they do not care about how their products can harm our pets, their profits will dwindle as people stop to buy their products. Please consider this from both a compassionate and practical viewpoint, and enforce stricter guidelines on pet products to ensure their safety.

I also shared this photo of Kita on the FDA's website. I hope they realize that this rawhide is not worth his life.

Please take a moment to visit the FDA's site and let them know how you feel about your pets and the importance of stricter guidelines on pet products to you and your family.

You can take a cat out of the wild, but it is much harder to take the wild out of the cat

Zoey on his cat perch

We are completely dedicated to keeping any pet cat that we have as an indoor-only cat.  This can be tough when you have a former stray cat, because they know all of the amazing possibilities on the outside, including bugs, small animals to chase, places to hide, and plenty of things to mark.  To combat this urge, we have a cat tree in one window ,a cat perch in another window, and something by almost every window that allows them to sit and watch the outside.  We also keep bird feeders outside of a couple of the windows so that they have plenty of critters to look at for hours at a time.

However, we could not always provide these luxuries.  When we lived in a condo complex, we subleased from a landlord that said we could have cats even though the condo complex itself didn't allow them.  We did not realize that this meant they could not look out the windows without having neighbors call the complex on us.  We had to keep all of our windows covered, but the cats would find any way that they could to look outside, and we really couldn't blame that aspect of their personalities.  

Worse yet, when Seph managed to sneak out our front door, he was actually shot at after a few hours.  Thankfully, this caused him to run back into our house (where we were waiting for him with all of our doors open in the middle of winter), but not soon after, our landlord called to ask if we could give up our cats.  This simply was not an option.  Instead, we stayed for the remainder of our contract and moved to a place better suited to having pets, which also allowed us to get our dog, Kita. 

This story is only one small example of what pet-owners have to consider when finding a place to rent.  When looking for a place online, the simple filter of "allows pets" limits the possibilities by A LOT.  What if we didn't have the resources to find a place that did allow us to keep our cats?  Luckily, that wasn't the case, but the house we live in now is very old and on a main road.  It was one of the few options available to us since our cats are not disposable items to us.  I really wish that this would change, and pet owners weren't often forced to give up their pets when moving to a new home.  I think it happens a lot and is a cruel fate to the animals that end up in a shelter or even a new home without the people that they are often so attached to.  We are very lucky to be able to keep the pets in a house that we don't own, and I wish other pet owners the same good fortune.  I also make a plea to pet owners to continue and expand their search for new homes in order to take their pets with them, and a plea to landowners to understand that pets are family members and that they should consider opening their rentals to responsible pet owners.

Find out more about Zoey on his Catster Page

Click here to visit Seph's page!

Tuxedo Destiny

When I was in college, I had the good fortune to bring two stray cats into their forever homes.  Both of those cats just so happened to be tuxedo kitties.  The summer before my last year in college, I found a friendly stray cat outside of a friend's house.  I told my friend that if the cat didn't leave his yard within 48 hours to call me and I would come pick him up.  I got the call two days later and had a cat carrier ready to take him to the apartment that I shared with 2 roommates.  I instantly bonded with "Messy" and he slept on my bed every night and followed me wherever I went.  Within a few weeks, however, our landlord found out about the cat and said that we had to give him up.

As it turns out, my cousin's best friend had two elderly cats that had recently passed away.  She was devastated about her loss and didn't want to take in a new cat, so we asked her to take the cat for a few days until we found him a new home.  Two days later, she had already fallen in love with him and decided she would keep him and name him Fritz.  Fritz was lucky enough to live out the last 6 years of his life with someone that truly loved him and he waited until she got home from work and died of old age in her arms not long ago.

   The following summer, another friendly tuxedo cat showed up at Chris's door while we were sitting on his front porch.  At this time, Zoey was a kitten and Chris's roommate already had a grown male cat, so we fed the scrawny cat but thought that it was best for us not to take in a third cat at the time.  However, after about 3 days on our porch meowing and sitting on our laps, we decided to let the grateful cat into our lives, and Seph has moved from home to home with us ever since.

Unfortunately, many cats in the college town I lived in aren't able to find forever homes.  Every year, when school ends, college students return to their original homes and leave their pets without a second thought.  At the beginning of each summer, stray cats show up all over town and many of them are ran over or taken to the overcrowded shelter where they are often euthanised.  This  is a sad reality that I can't wrap my head around, but I am happy that I was able to find forever homes for two of the town's abandoned cats. If you find a stray cat, think if anyone you know would be willing to give the cat a temporary or forever home.  I believe that cats find us for a reason, and the some of the best cats choose their forever homes by simply walking up to a door in hopes of some food and love. 

Tips from the Humane Society on how to help a stray pet

Want to learn more about Seph?  Click here to visit his page!

Help support the Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act Now!

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Pet Blogging Suggestions

I'm a proud #petparent today because Zoey was chosen as Catster's Diary of the Day pick.  Check out Catster's Diary option if you like to blog about your cats and you can get a following of cat lovers pretty quickly.  You can also write about your pets with Dogster's Diary or Goodreads Writings feature and then share your posts on Google+, Pinterest (only if you have a picture on your blog post), Twitter, Facebook, Stumbleupon and Delicious in a matter of moments!

Buffer is a great tool to use to share your posts at optimal times, and Bit.ly can be used to shorten your links and track their clicks.  Don't get discouraged...it can take quite awhile to find your voice and gain a following, but if you stick with it and write about your own experiences, you can succeed.

Have other ways to promote pet blogging or pet adoption?  Let me know!  I am a strong believer in promoting pet adoption and hope that I can convince at least one person to save a shelter pet by sharing stories of my lovable dog and cats.  If you would like help to promote your pet blog, let me know and I'll look at it and let you know if I can help by promotion or suggestions.

Want to learn about our other cat, Seph?  Click here to visit his page!

It's Adopt a Cat from a Shelter Month

Cats are great for people that are busy, because they are so self-reliant.  They also can be very loving, intelligent and funny.  Consider adopting a cat this month from a local shelter; so many are euthanized every day due to shelters being overcrowded, particularly at this time of year.  One of my fave sites, Buzzfeed always has funny pics and videos of pets.  Here is one of my favorites:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chelseamarshall/cats-who-are-awful-at-hide-and-seek

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Raise Money for Pet Shelters

Hey Do-Gooders, Kita has a request for you (and he's quite loud about it)

Help raise money for Animals- and -Pet Shelters- with a free click every day on The Animal Rescue Site! http://po.st/El9zvk



Want to get to know Kita better?  Click here to visit his page!

Nonprofits are doing some great work

Here are some causes dear to my heart....



This will be updated often as there are so many nonprofits doing wonderful work for people, animals, and the environment all over the world.