New Year last year

....we had the pom pom drop and introduced the cats to champagne.

I've afraid I'm not ambitious enough this year to post every ten minutes up until midnight. This year, after a wonderful dinner out with my friends, I'm going to curl up by the fire with my feline associates, and ring in a quiet and happy 2010.

I wish you all a wonderful evening, and a bright and hopeful New Year's Day.

Oh heck. It's not New Year's without a little kitty participation!









Now! Have a wonderful 2010, and thank you for all your kindness in 2009.

(Thanks, Maxies, for the beads. Thanks, girls, for keeping me alive this year!)

Longfellow should perhaps be renamed...

Fireheart.

Geesh. It's not THAT cold in here.



Okay, this should be literally painful! However, I don't smell burning fur...



Longfellow is available for adoption to a VERY warm home!

Little kitty fetishes

They are about 1.5 inches high. Cute, huh? I still have to find the right string to use to tie the beads on. I'm making scads of them. I'm not quite sure why, yet. Pinching them out of FIMO clay is a pretty good stress reliever.

Post-note: From the comments, it sounds like people would like them. I don't mind sending them out into the world. Once I get the rest of them baked up, I'll put them on here so you can see the colors, and you can send a padded envelope, a return label, $2 bucks postage, and whatever you'd like to toss in there (but $2 is fine for my regular readers!). These are more friendship fetishes than money-raisers.

For the Cheeto fan base...

After a few days of spits, airsmacks, and scared growls, Cheeto and Phillip are now buddies.

Merry Christmas, Cheeto and Phillip! You have one of the best homes in the world.

(Post-note: Cheeto's new name is "Julian")

Toys are great, yet Bounty and babyfood make us VERY happy too!

Mike and Teresa, visiting from California, walked up the path today carrying a wealth of kitty supplies. Tons of paper towels, paper plates, and baby food. I then took a break from work and we went over to The Bishop Inn for lunch and did a little bit of catching up.

Squeak has taken a shine to the stuffed peacock Mary brought last night.



It's turning into quite the kitty Christmas.

Southern Pines Animal Shelter Fire

(photo from Southern Pines website. Please follow the link below)

Southern Pines Animal Shelter in MS was robbed and a fire was intentionally set that killed their disabled office cats. The rest of the animals are safe. Please consider a donation to them, and a matching donation to your own local shelter in honor of Southern Pines, and help turn tragedy into hope this holiday season. Please spread the word. As we write out Christmas cards, send one more to Mississippi.

Kitty Santa comes to Wildrun

Wildrun has a couple of very special people who are Santas throughout the year. Mary, who adopted Jack and The Leewit, and the founding donor for our Lewitt Fund for spay/neuter and surgical funds, came over tonight bearing boxes and boxes of gifts!

Beds! (Bug in the cat facility will appreciate this one, since she is always getting in and under the blankets, although Wiggles is testing it out here).



Towels...and not just towels, but new towels, and low-nap (the cats won't be making ugly snags on these), and beautiful enough to make an off-site adoption set up look extra special.



Little towels...lots and lots.



Presents for the well-being of the pampered cat lady. Good reading, good wine, chocolate, and bubble bath. A stuffed toy (for the silly side) and a more delicate gift(as a reminder of good friends who care).

'

We left a few toys in the house for the cats and hauled the rest out to the cat facility. The light is poor in the evening for photos, however Plushy did permit herself to be photographed trying to figure out what the den was for. "Do I get IN it...?"



"...or JUMP on it?"



All those presents, and you can guess what the kittens liked the best...



Kids and cats. It's all about the box.

More photos tomorrow!

Thank you, Mary! There were so many people who were right there for me when I needed them, and who dedicate themselves to being there for the cats, as well. There is really no way to thank them adequately. The cats love their new toys, and it's important for Christmas to bring surprises and newness to them too.

It definitely feels like Christmas!

Updates on kittens

Apologies to my faithful clickers who arrive here each day for news of the cats only to see the same old post!

Four kittens found homes this past week or so: Ferdinand, Bugsy, Cheeto, and Cheddar. Of the young cats and kittens, remaining in the fold are Wiggles, Longfellow, Brie, Fergie and Venus. Venus has an adopter who is seriously interested in her once her abrasions on her neck (from her littermates using her as a baby bottle to suck on!) are healed, and we've received many inquiries for calicos, so Brie will probably be adopted soon as well.

Little Fergie, who is the cutest of the bunch in my opinion, has no inquiries, so this weekend I'll have a photo session to "cute up" everyone's photos on Petfinder.

Wiggles, Longfellow, and Fergie were off to the vet this week to be fixed. The phone rang shortly after I dropped them off. It appears Wiggles also had a hernia, so we had that repaired. She has two incisions this evening instead of just one.



She's pretty tuckered out.



My pet cats or thoroughly fed up with kittens and tend to look at them with disgust if they curl up too close, and give them a smack if they cuddle. But Wiggles still manages to sneak in to sleep with the big guys.



I finally managed to get a chimney sweep in for the new fireplace insert I put in last year. I watched like a hawk so I could clean it myself later this winter and next fall. I believe in professional cleanings, but sometimes $160 just doesn't fit into the budget. Although I find it a bargain when I look up at the snow and ice on the roof!

Once the fire is burning, this room becomes a magnet for cats. This is probably a good thing, as it provides me with incentive to get kitties into homes just so I can have some room to myself. There would only be two cats in this photo if Cheeto were delivered to his new home and Longfellow and Wiggles were adopted.



Brie is scheduled for a spay next week, and Venus will be fixed the week after that.

We also had a couple of "big" surgeries in the past two weeks. Fluffy had a major dental, and Fiona's luxating patella was repaired. I'll get photos of those two as well tomorrow.

Thanks for hanging in there!

Ferdinand is doing great!

"I just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know how well things are going with Ferdinand - who now goes by the name of Foo or Foo Foo. He is such a sweetheart and the most unflappable feline I've ever seen. Loud noises don't seem to bother him at all - hair dryer, hand vacuum, boisterous four year old boy. Our adult cats are slowly coming around and seem to be more able to tolerate his presence now. There's still a little hissing and growling from the nine year old, but our senior kitty has become pretty accepting. Thanks for taking such good care of him and allowing us to bring this delightful kitten into our lives. He has brought us a lot of joy in just a few days.

Warmest regards,
Mary Beth"

Don't forget your local shelter! Local Open Houses

It's that time of year! Wildrun partied on last weekend, and now our local humane societies are opening their doors to their communities.

TODAY!

Stray Haven and SPCA Open House and Bake Sale
Saturday, 12/12/09
Time: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Location: Stray Haven Humane Society & S.P.C.A.
194 Shepard Rd
Waverly, NY
Contact: 607-565-2859

Bradford County Humane Society (PA)
Annual Christmas Party and Open House
Saturday, 12/12/09
Time: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm
"We are located in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, on Route 220, just north of Ulster."

Humane Society of Schuyler County
Pictures with Santa!
December 12 at the Horseheads PETsMART store from 11 - 4


SPCA of Luzerne County (PA)
Photos with Santa!
524 east Main Street Wilkes Barre PA.
From 10am to 2pm
"We will also be at the shelter with photos on the 19th from 10am to 2pm and then PetsMart from 11am to 4pm...PetsMart at the Arena Hub Plaza next to Barnes and Noble, Wilkes Barre"

Pedigree Dogs Exposed - BBC

There is only one word for this full-length video. Wow.

The weather outside is frightful...

Winter has finally struck central New York, and it's time to break out the winter clothes. Does your cat have hers? If not, you should visit the Christinelandry.com blog.

Cheeto wishes you a warm and wonderful holiday

I was thinking that this was the very first year we had our holiday gathering without snow...and then the first visitor arrived and it began to snow!

Little Cheddar got a home with a young reader of the Warrior Cats series, and Cheddar's new name is Fireheart! She will need to be a Fireheart to stand up to the energy of two great young boys!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and for the presents! It warmed the lives of both the kitties and myself.

Now we are gearing up for Day Two from noon to 4:00. If you have time on this beautiful snowy day, please stop by!

Busy, busy, busy

I could really use Phillip's jetpack right now! But I'm having fun.

This weekend is our Coffee, Cookies and Kittens event. We have at least one confirmed adopter coming, and lots of friends and neighbors! We are open Saturday from 11:00 to 4:30 pm and Sunday noon to 4:00, so it will be less crowded than previous years, to give me time to spend with adopters.

I had a great time shopping for ingredients for some seriously decadent cookies this morning, after dropping Fiona off for her surgery (keep your fingers crossed!). Dr. Shakespeare was going to do another radiograph to feel more certain that she could repair the luxating patella. My phone hasn't rung, so it appears she decided to go for it.

Fluffy had his dental the day before yesterday, and he's doing great, even though all he has left is one canine tooth and his front incisors. He seems much happier now, even after having had all those roots from broken teeth removed. The $320 fee was a fraction of full cost.

$600 in one week for a vet bill may seem high, but given that it would have been up to $3000 at another veterinarian or the university, we know how lucky we are!

Last night I did some painting in the cat facility. Today I cleaned and decorated downstairs, and began baking.

If you think you may make it, drop me a line at info@americancat.net!