Purr-sonality

When talking with potential adopters at the shelter, I'm often asked questions about some variation of the 'rules.'

"Can two male cats really get along?"

"Are female cats too territorial to live together?"

Over and over I give the same response, that it's really more about the personality of the animal than the gender. I feel like this often frustrates adopters, and I get it. It would be so much easier (for all of us!) if there were a set of rules to follow to ensure a smooth addition to your fur family.

The great big world outside

PeeWee has chronic sinus issues, but I had noticed him getting stuffier and stuffier, so we made an appointment for him with the shelter vet.

He also doesn't do a whole lot of scratching, so we've had to start clipping his nails.  He is an incredibly chill cat, but he absolutely *hates* having his paws handled. It's pretty difficult to clip a cat's nails without handling their paws, so he's just not a fan of the process. As you can see by the amount of hair he left on my pants, this morning's session stressed him out just a tad.

Anyway, the shelter is 20-30 minutes away, depending on traffic. Since snuffles seemed less than thrilled to be in the carrier, we decided to let him out to roam the car for the trip.

PeeWee explored the backseat for a while, then decided he liked it better on my lap where he could watch the world go by.

What's going on out there?

Where are you taking me?!

This is faster than I like to travel...

He ended up spending most of the drive by my feet. Of course, being a cat, he decided he *really* wanted to be under the driver's feet, but he didn't protest too much when I blocked him. All of the other critters got a piece of his mind when we got home, though.

Linky Treats

There's all kinds of tasty stuff around the web:

First up, my college friend is fundraising to get a service dog for his son. Please consider throwing in a few bucks if you can, or at least sharing the link. Thanks!

Next is some advice for reducing the stress levels of newly adopted dogs:

What normally happens in a dog’s day is that they meet a series of stress-inducing triggers. If you’ve socialised them and introduced them to these triggers when they are young, they will most probably learn that these things are nothing to be afraid of. If you don’t, you’ve got an uphill battle to show them that a strange man in a hat is nothing to be afraid of. When we adopt an adult dog, we have no idea what they have been socialised with and what is a trigger.

- from "Trigger Stacking: how we set our dogs up to fail"

Then we have the CEO of GPSPCA encouraging us to put our judgments aside:

Now, instead of having 57 dogs in our possession at Great Plains SPCA and breeders who are mad, hostile, unwilling to heed to our advice and likely to just “do it again,” we have compliant partners with a better understanding about how to properly take care of their pets. We also have folks who won’t be afraid to call “those crazy animal people” if ever they find themselves in a position where they need help again. And.. that cute little wire-haired terrier who was matted three weeks ago, they’d had her shaved and treated for fleas. They did what they committed they would do.  

Had we let our emotions or the judgment that we wanted to cast upon these people drive our interactions with them, the outcome in this case would have been much different. Because we could focus on building a relationship with them and educating them, the outcome for the animals was the best it could be. And that, my friends, is the goal.

- from "A Note From Our Top Dog: When We Judge"

Finally, I can't stop watching this video of Kate McKinnon talking about her cat, Nino:

What goes around...

I was watching PeeWee sleep the other night.

Woke up to find him returning the favor.

Frazzled

Living with five pets is often like living in a house full of exceptionally gross toddlers:

Mike is hungry. Starbuck needs to go potty. Mike is hungry. Cosmo wants to play. PeeWee has a gunky nose. Mike is hungry. Cali is hitting! Starbuck is hungry. Mike pooped all over himself. Cali is taking stuff. Cosmo wants to play. Starbuck needs to go potty. Mike is hungry.

The Mike poop is underrepresented, there. It's probably about 1/3 of the time he either gets it on himself or steps in it and tracks it all over the bathroom. Spouse says it's like he's trying to teach us really crappy dance moves (yes, the Dad Jokes are strong with that one).

just imagine that second one created with poopy pawprints...yeah

There are definitely moments where I envy fur-free households. But then I come home and the dogs are so darn happy to see me they nearly wag their butts off. Or PeeWee curls up behind me in bed and his purr rumbles through my entire back. Or I see something like this

and I'm reminded to appreciate the love and companionship of my pets. Even as I'm scrubbing the bathroom floor for the fifth time in a week.

Exploring

Look who is feeling all brave!

August Shelter Cat of the Month

This Mr. Big Stuff will never break your heart.

Jimmy

UPDATE 11/2: JIMMY HAS BEEN ADOPTED!

Delayed

Today has been the Mondayest of Mondays, so cat of the month will (hopefully) be here tomorrow. Until then, you get photos!

PeeWee 'helping' with the August name tags for the shelter

Mike doesn't get pillows. He thinks they are for the butt and blankets are for the head

Garfunkel *does* have a rear end!

February's SCotM, Garfunkel, is getting braver by the day at the shelter. He was out roaming around when we came in yesterday. You can follow his adventures on his new Facebook page: 2 Boys 1 Home