My Meowmy Took Away My Treats

Dori: I got to try a new treat this weekend. I think it's really delicious. I wanted to eat them all. But my meowmy took them away. Even though most of us kittehs loved them.

To find out why, read Why I Won't Buy My Cats Treats They Love.

The Power of A #Hug by @Adorapurr

Today is

International Hug

Your Cat Day.

Speaking to those involved in animal rescue: you must remember how powerful that first touch can be to an abandoned cat or dog who has gone a long time...perhaps forever...without contact, without touch.

My mom has rescued numerous strays throughout her life, many of them feral. Feral cats are her specialty. She says there is no greater high on this earth than when, after weeks or even months, of working to establish trust with a feral, they allow her to touch them for the first time. After that first touch, it's often like the flood gates are thrown wide and progress with taming and possible homing rapidly follows.

Touch isn't necessarily human contact either. Touch can come from another animal, like Jack and Opie who enjoy a bromance kind of friendship. In 2008 Opie was caught as a 3 month old stray in our yard, and in 2009 Jack was born under a neighbor's deck to Peaches. Neither cat had experienced human touch when my mom took them in, but Opie never possessed the feral streak, while Jack did...and still does. Jack avoids all attempts at contact from my pawrents, but he gets his need for touch fulfilled from Opie, and from his mom, Peaches who also lives with us.

Touch for ferals can also come from a clean blanket, or a cushy bed. In Florida, Mom rescued a feral tuxedo named Amy. To give Amy comfort while they worked on her trust issues, mom provided her with a blanket on top of a lawn chair. To this day, the memory of Amy enjoying her first blanket, her first real comfort, brings tears to my mom's eyes.

I was born to Nicolas and Annie. My dad was tame from the start, but while tame, Annie had trust issues. She may have been born to feral parents, or abused in a past life. She gave birth to two panfur boys and two tabby girls. Kepurr was scared when we were rescued,  but he tamed with little effort and was adopted. His twin, Kopea, was feral, and while he was adopted by Kepurr's family, he could not be tamed, and eventually escaped their house. I was tame from the start, a tribute to my wonderpurr dad, but my twin Patsy, was so feral, there was no chance of her getting adopted. She had to be released back into the yard with Annie and Nicolas. But! Patsy underwent a huge transformation after her release. She regrouped, learned to trust, and became a pawsome, adoptable cat. She learned to trust my human mom, and eventually Patsy permitted being sat in my mom's lap like a baby doll, and having her claws clipped. Her claws clipped! Without screaming and twisting and yowling, like I do.

But this isn't about my issues. This is about touch. This is about Hugs!

You don't need a calender date to tell you to hug your cat...or your dog, or ferret or bunny... You just have to stop and take a break in the middle of your chaotic life, put down your pawphone, put down the teevee remote... and give your fur kid attention.

Play with them. Talk to them. Hug them.

They will thank you for it with life-long devotion. You can quote me.

 

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment or maybe share this post before you rush off to hug your fur kid. And do give them a smoochie from me, Dori. Have a Wonderpurr day!

The Spending Pawer of the Pet Blogger

Herman: This post is written by my mom, Kimberley Koz. She's the one who spends a lot of her time running to the store to buy us our favorite foods, treats, and other must-haves like litter. So, without further adieu...take it away Mom!

Kim: I am as finicky as one of my cats when it comes to feeding them healthy food. That means I'm constantly checking and rechecking labels, reading reviews, and spending a lot of time in aisles reading labels. I'm also high-end when it comes to litter that doesn't create a dust cloud that sticks to every surface in the house, and ends up making both my husband and I cough and wheeze. (can you say asthma?) And because I'm so finicky, I spend a lot of money chasing my tail, trying to get the best deal for the best food possible.

This past year Herman and I joined Blogpaws' Pet Blogger Influencer Group. Because of the gagging amount of time and money I spend on my cats...and I have a bunch of them...I wanted to participate in the group in order to be heard. I felt my experiences with my pets would provide a good take on the average household who are devoted to the care and well-being of their fur kids.

The results of the first Influencer Survey came out this month. Are you surprised by the numbers? I'm not. Especially that 96% number about going without in order to care for their pets. I've been there a number of times.

So check the below Infographic and tell me a little about your preferences when it comes to purchasing for your fur babies.

No Energy, No Cattitude

My Brofur -- the Treat Feef

Hi pals, it's me, Herman!!! I've been asked by the Chewy.com company to review Freeze Dried Cat Treats made by the award-winning Orijen company. This is my very first official review, so I'm kinda nervous. *twists floofy tail into a nervous knot.*

When the package containing the treats arrived, we all knew there was something extra special inside it. We could smell it right through the bubble wrap. In fact, we followed Mom from the front door, through the house to the kitchen. We expected her to open it and share the goods right then and there. But she didn't. She put it on the kitchen counter, and then walked away. I repeat. She Walked Away!

We -- my fur sibs and I -- stood around with our mouths open, wondering what kind of torture was this? But then Opie took the matter into his own paws. He jumped onto the counter, and knocked the package to the floor. And then he attacked it!

He rubbed on the package, and when that didn't work, he pawed it, and clawed it, and then went to work on it with his teef. Those suckers are sharp. And pretty soon... the aroma of Freeze Dried Cat Treats filled our noses.

That's when Mom came back and saw what Opie did. She immediately sent him to the Bad Chair to think about what he'd done. She was about to send the rest of us to our rooms for being accomplices when I explained to her that I was supposed to write a review for the treats. So she gave in, and helped us open the package.

I was the first to taste them. OMC! They tasted like a symphony in my mouth! Cage-free chicken and turkey, plus wild-caught flounder from North Vancouver Island. No preservatives or filler stuff either!

Then my lil sisfur, Dori, insisted she review the treats. I told her only mine would count, but I let her have a few anyway.

I guess her lip smacking, accompanied by her jingle bells, was proof that she agreed with me. Then Peaches and her son, Jack, wanted in on the action.

  

 Mom said nothing about us eating on her carpet since there wasn't a crumb left behind.

While our Orijen treat feast was taking place, Gidget was bird watching. She has this thing about birds. When she was an outside cat, she used to catch em. Now she's indoors and has to be content just to watch. She says watching from inside the house is like watching Downton Abbey with the sound off.

Yeah, I haz to agree.

Then, after the birds flew away, Gidget realized we were eating treats and they were almost gone. That's when Mom grabbed a few and gave them to her. Mom's do that kind of thing, don't they?

So now the treats are really almost gone...and guess who hadn't had any yet!

I felt kinda bad for Big Orange, so I tossed a few treats for him to eat. But then... Then! I couldn't believe my eyes! He started taking Gidget's treats. She's told me many times he's a treat feef, but I never saw him in action so I wasn't sure I should believe her. But there he was, right before my eyes, stealing the Orijen treats.

And I got it on video:

 So the bag of Orijen Freeze Dried Cat Treats was finally gone... all but a memory. And since cats are notorious about forgetting stuff... I ran up to my office, booted up my computer and got to writing this review. It was exhausting work... I had to nap in the middle of it.

So, with the input from my fur sibs, we all agreed, 100%, that Orijen Freeze Dried Cat Treats are Wonderpurr! We loved the taste of the fresh ingredients and enjoyed the freeze dried texture as opposed to crunchy or soft treats. We got to sample the Original  flavor with the chicken and turkey and flounder, but I plan to try all of the 5 Great Flavors available: Tundra - featuring elk, venison, quail and steelhead trout, Regional Red made with ranch-raised beef, Alberta Lamb with its tender savory flavor and Wild Boar (OMC!!!)

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