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MEWSLETTER 43 January 15th 2006
Hi there, everyone, and a very warm welcome to the first issue of the New Year. I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year and that you all remained bug free! Unfortunately, flu and other nasties were around over the festive period and I know a lot of folk were really sick. Special get well wishes to Mike in Canada who is getting over pneumonia. Kisses from Garfield! If this is your first issue of the MEWSLETTER I hope you’ll enjoy the contents and that you’ll find something you’ll like. Please feel free to pass this issue on to your feline loving family members and friends. Perhaps they’ll subscribe! Garfield received a lot of positive feedback to his first Christmas Mewsletter – so he’s already drawing up plans – with the help of some of the other Mewsers – for his next issue. His Book Quiz is still running this month and the answers will be given in the next issue – along with all the amazingly talented feline sleuths who took the trouble to enter. If you’ve not already done so, please allow your ‘spokescat’ to enter the quiz – each entrant will receive a prize. I had intended there to be an issue just before Christmas but time sped away from me and I wasn’t too well for a while so wasn’t able to get one done. For that, I’m sorry, if you were disappointed. This is a bumper issue, and hopefully, there will be a much shorter issue towards the end of January, with just a few links and then we’ll be back on track for a monthly issue at the end of each month – with the next full issue at the end of February. I hope that’s ok with all of you – remember, your feedback is invaluable, so please write and let me know your thoughts and views on things raised in this issue. Margy Ohring who has written several poems in the Purrfect Poetry section has a book out now; ‘Cat-House Sonnets’ which can be purchased at http://www.jorlanpublishing.com/Cat-HouseSonnets.htm or obtain an autographed copy direct from the author at mcatsonnets@erols.com. Margy has also been nominated the Readers’ Choice Poet of the month. To vote for her, follow this link: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/poet.shtml Scroll down until you find her name and then vote! Simple as that!!!! Another website that I like is www.apetcemetery.com which is a virtual resting place for your pet. There are many tributes to all animals and if you want to place a memorial to one of your beloved pets, just contact Phil, the webmaster, who will be very respectful of your wishes. If you want to go to a forum and talk about your cats, dogs, animal companions, then the best place to go is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ACE_forum/ The cats received some great presents for Christmas and one of them proved very popular – a box of catnip tea. According to the instructions, you make it just like regular tea, allow it to cool and then invite your cat to a tea party – he or she drinks the cooled catnip tea and you drink whatever takes your fancy – those of you who know me well enough, know I’m a cappuccino fan (my son bought me a cappuccino maker for Christmas!) Anyway, back to the catnip tea – the cooled tea bags can then be given to your cat to play with, as the smell of catnip is still strong enough to keep their interest. I decided to bypass the tea-making thing and just gave them the ‘tea’ bags, which are made of very strong material full of organically grown catnip. They went BERSERK! Other than Garfield who found the whole thing passé, the others all rollicked, rolled, rubbed, frolicked, jumped, you-name-it, they-did-it with these three tea bags. At one point, I came upstairs to find Ollie absolutely spark out on his back, all four paws in the air with a bag right next to him. It was sodden where he’d licked and sucked it, but it still had plenty of life in it, and all the cats, apart from Garfield, have been playing with the three tea bags constantly. Although they were bought from a specialty tea/coffee shop you can buy them on line here: http://www.petbuddies.com/cat_toys.html. There are some great things on this website for cats and dogs, so if you’re looking for that special something for the feline or canine love of your life, you can’t go wrong book marking this site! Another favourite site of mine is Sandy Harris’ quilting website; everything you could wish to make can be found and she has some really cute cat patterns for you to make. Check them out here: http://www.sundropdesigns.com/funstuff/sunny.html GARFIELD NEWSGarfield is going to have surgery again on Wednesday, 19th January, for the removal of the tumours in his mouth and some teeth. As he’ll be 20 in March, surgery at his age is very risky. I know the vets will take the best care of him, but he (and I) would value your prayers for a completely successful surgery – with no ongoing problems. Thank you. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A’mews’ment Arcade: Cat’s New Year’s Resolutions :Kitty Credit Card Animal Welfare: A Little Tabby : A Humpback Whale thanks her rescuers Articles: Soul Searching Cat Chat: Junior and his ‘daughter’ Ed Kostro: Fat Louie Gives Thanks : Little Flower : Our Christmas Star Garfield’s Book Quiz Jim Willis: The First Noel Napping on a Sunbeam: Tigger Purrfect Poetry: Cuddles – Companion Cat : Orlando’s Adventures *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A hilarious and addictive game for you to play!!!! http://upchucky.com/games/hairball-bowling.html What’s your elf name? This is so funny – Garfield’s is ‘Batty Crazy Legs’. Check it out on this link http://www.jokesunlimited.com/christmas_elf_name.php *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* GARFIELD’S BOOK QUIZ is running until the end of this month so you still have time for your feline sleuths to enter. Remember – every feline entrant will win a prize but in multi-cat households, please elect a spokescat to submit the answers to the address below. You can add the names and ages of the other felines in your household and nominate a favourite website as per usual. Garfield chose FOUR books that he wanted the authors to this time. Who wrote the following: 1. Alice’s Diary: The Memoirs of a Cat 2. Cats in the Belfry 3. Bluebell: Diary of a Cat 4. Do Cats Think? Notes of a Cat-Watcher Send your answers to p.dewberry@ntlworld.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A’MEWS’MENT ARCADEJena in Texas sent me the following submission, which will have you nodding in agreement – leave the screen on at this link so your cat will get the message as well! http://www.thedailymews.com/amewsments/catresolutions.htm This next story made us all laugh because a well-known credit card company sent an application form to a CAT to have a credit card. Thanks to Mike in Canada for the story. http://www.thedailymews.com/amewsments/creditcardkitty.htm ANIMAL WELFAREJared in Belgium sent this next item to me. It had saddened him and sickened and saddened me. Unwanted cats are routinely rounded up and shot in America as part of a ‘population control’ exercise. The best way to avoid this terrible action is to be a responsible owner and neuter or spay your cat. There is a lot to be said for the Trap, Neuter and Release programmes that many good people try to organise, as this will eliminate the hundreds of feral kittens that are born every year in these colonies. http://www.thedailymews.com/AnimalWelfare/littletabby.htm ARTICLES: Kathy Pippig Harris wrote the most tantalising story, which will keep you enthralled to the last paragraph. Read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/soulsearching.htm CAT CHATLisa Foss has written a lovely story about her Siamese cat family, about one in particular who seemed to be afraid of everything. Read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/fraidycat.htm When Sammie the little Pomeranian dog came to live with Junior, the mega-huge Tom Cat, the family held their breath when they first met. What happened next was unbelievable. You must read this fantastic love story between a cat and his ‘daughter’. http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/juniorandsammie.htm ED KOSTRO: It’s always good to give thanks for the blessings you receive and Ed’s cat, Lakeshore Louie has put paw to keyboard and written a Thanksgiving Poem for his new life and the fact that he has landed on all four paws. http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/fatlouiethanks.htm Ed also brought home a sweet little tortoiseshell cat, that he named ‘Flower’ on one of his frequent trips to help in the Katrina rescue centres. In true Ed style, he has written a poem in her honour. Read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/flower.htm Our third poem by Ed is called Our Christmas Star and recalls Little Henry’s love for Christmas. Read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/ourchristmasstar.htm Ed has written a book of poems entitled ‘Through Katrina’s Eyes, Poems from an Animal Rescuer’s Soul’. This book depicts many of his thoughts and emotions during his pet rescue efforts, and it contains some of the stories of the remarkable souls that he met on the Gulf Coast – both human and nonhuman. These are the stories of Katrina’s victims, and of her rescuers, whose eyes he will remember for the rest of his natural days. Published by Booklocker, a portion of the proceeds of the books that are sold will be donated towards the animal shelters, which are housing these tragic ‘left-behind’ animals. I will be putting it on the book picks’ page as soon as I have some ‘spare’ time, but you can see it and order it directly from Booklocker at this link: http://www.booklocker.com/books/2300.html JIM WILLIS: I have some fantastic news about Jim Willis. Having moved from PA to North Carolina, he met and married a wonderful animal loving woman called Betty. True to Jim form, it wasn’t long before he was rescuing more animals. Fortunately Betty has her own rescue centre and they’ve joined forces – watch this space!!! Jim’s written a very moving story about Noël, a beautiful dog who had been tortured and left on the free way. http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/firstnoel.htm MEWSERS’ MEWSINGSTiger Hample is a bold, visionary feline who is hoping to change the world that he lives in by introducing a ‘cat day’. After all, as he rightly points out, there is a day to celebrate everything else – why not have a cat day to celebrate the wonderful feline? His talented slave, Stuart, has illustrated the book that Tiger wrote, which is called ‘Happy Cat Day’ which is published by Willow Creek Press. The ISBN number is 1-57223-681-7 and it will be added to the books link section in due course. In the meantime, you can read Tiger’s rantings on this lack of feline appreciation here: http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/whycatday.htm NAPPING ON A SUNBEAMLaura Dumm, who does most of the illustrations for this website, lost another of her beautiful cats just before Christmas. Tigger had been ill for a while but managed to teach the new kitten, Bogart, some tricks before he left. You can read his heart-warming story here: http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/tigger.htm NEIL THE VETHere is the second in an occasional series written by Neil, our ‘resident’ vet. As we’ve come to expect with Neil, this is witty and pithy and extremely thought provoking. Please click on the link: http://www.thedailymews.com/NeiltheVet/gettingcattyoverfelines.htm PURRFECT POETRYWe can usually think back with fond memories to our childhood and the array and assortment of pets that shared those early years. Claire Hegarty in Ireland has written a lovely poem of remembrance about her cat, Cuddles. Claire is a pet sitter and we’ll be hearing from her in a future issue of the Mewsletter about her experiences. Click on the link to read about Cuddles: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/cuddlescompanioncat.htm Kathy Pippig Harris who wrote the extraordinarily moving Soul Searching story also wrote a poem about a kitten that gets found at just the right time. You can read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/homewardfound.htm Jackie Brooks’ next instalment in Orlando’s adventures has him and Omar riding in a wagon train, which get ambushed. Laura Dumm once again drew the great illustrations. http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/orlandowagontrainambush.htm The next poem, When God Made Cats, was sent to me before my computer crashed last August. Fortunately, I had saved the poem but not the name of the person who sent it to me. You can read this delightful poem here: http://www.thedailymews.com/poems/whengodmadecats.htm Our final story isn’t about cats but if you love animals you will be moved by it; no, it isn’t sad but it’s the joy that a female humpback whale showed to the people who released her from her entanglement in fishing nets. Kathy Pippig Harris sent it to me and I just wish I had a video clip to let you see the full joy of this story. You can read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/AnimalWelfare/humpbackwhalerescue.htm That about sums it up for now. I hope you all enjoy this issue and all the new stories, poems, and articles. Don’t forget to let one of your cats have a go at Garfield’s Book Quiz and we’ll see you (all being well) in a couple of weeks’ time. Until then, take care and have a PURRFECT week. Pauline – Editor and Pet Psychologist Garfield – Chief Technician and Walking Encyclopaedia (he knows SHEDLOADS of stuff!) Billy and Timmy – Video tester and Care of the Elderly (respectively) Sam – Ethnic Minorities Advisor Ricky – Health and Fitness Guru and Counsellor Ollie – Who is still kittenish at 3 and a half years of age!
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