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MEWSLETTER 62 DECEMBER 25TH 2007
Hi there and a very warm welcome to every one who braved the winter elements to crash through the Cat Flap at the Daily Mews Mansion since the last Mewsletter. You are all very welcome and if you have any feline loving family members and friends, please feel free to pass this issue in its entirety to them. For those of you with AOL, you’ll have to copy and paste the links into your browsers.
So are you all ready for Christmas??? How it seems to sneak up on me every year. When I worked in London I used to buy the presents throughout the year and put them away – I still do that to some extent because I hate that awful rush in the run up to Christmas. The shops are crowded and the last thing that anyone seems to offer is GOODWILL to all men – and harassed women on a mission! <Smiles beatifically> I usually buy the cards from various charity catalogues and start writing them out in October, early November leaving them open so that I can put a newsletter in just before mailing. But this year I’ve been frantically writing cards until my poor fingers are worn down to the knuckle in a bid to beat the last posting dates. The weather has been deplorable (why am I not surprised about this – it IS winter after all!) so I’ve been stuck in the house with a pile of cards and not the slightest inclination to go out in the gusting gales and torrential rain to get to the Post Office. I’ve had a glut of Christmas emails from various friends, and there were two which tore at my heart strings and made me think. A very poignant one was this: Jesus is standing outside a house looking in through the window at all the festivities being prepared for Christmas Day dinner. Sadly He sighs, and says: ‘It’s MY birthday but I haven’t been invited to the party.’ Remember to include Him in your Christmas festivities and throughout the year – you won’t regret it. The second one is a scene in Heaven and someone is being shown round. There are lots of activities going on in many different rooms because people put in so many prayer requests for the things that they’d like, but then the visitor is shown a room which is silent. It has a sign over the door which says: ‘Thanks.’ Inside this room angels are gathered waiting for the work to come in but nothing is happening. It’s very sad but we all ask for things but many of us forget to say ‘thank you’ for all the blessings we receive daily. I’m here today because of all the wonderful prayers that were said for me throughout these past 18 months – once again, a MEGA-huge ‘THANK YOU’ to ALL the Prayer Warriors – thank you so much. Thank you to everyone who has sent me Christmas e-greeting cards, proper cards and gifts – it’s lovely of you to think of me (and Billy, Timmy, Sam and Ollie) and I really appreciate you and your kindness to me. Anyway, we have a packed issue for your delight this time and I hope you’ll read to the very end because you’ll miss out on treats if you don’t. There was a great response to various topics in the previous issue – so thank you to everyone who wrote with their views. Dale from Kent, (UK) told me that when he moved into his present house with his dogs, he found some paw prints on a window sill which didn’t belong to his dogs. He wiped them away – but the next time he passed by the window, the paw prints were back! He kept wiping them away, and they kept coming back – spooky, huh? Carole Hershman sent me this wonderful link about a piano playing cat. There is another link once you get to it to see the sequel. I thought they were both very good little videos. So this leads to the next poser - do any of you have any talented cats that can do exceptional – or not quite so exceptional – things? Please let me know and I’ll mention them next time around. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ860P4iTaM Carole also told me that her cat saw herself in the mirror and freaked out. Do you think cats recognise themselves or would they see their reflection as another cat?? Let me know what you think. I remember when Biggles (Garfield’s brother) saw himself in a floor length mirror he jumped back and about 4’ in the air in shock at finding another cat where he was! In the last couple of weeks I’ve had all the cats micro chipped. Sam and Ollie had their annual booster injections done on December 4th and getting micro chipped at the same time was part of a discounted deal. Timmy was done when I took him to the vet about the abscess on his face back in early November and Billy went on December 7th. The good thing about the chip is that it is a thermal chip which means the vet can 'read' their temperature rather than inserting the cold probe up an unsuspecting feline butt which always causes a look of utter surprise on the said feline's face!! A week or so before Christmas I ordered 4 catnip mice from www.culpeper.co.uk with the intention of putting them away for the ‘boys’ as a present each. But Ollie had other ideas. The package was lying on the sofa unopened and he managed to not only open it, but to get out one of the packets which contained a potent catnip mouse. I caught him trying to get the cellophane paper off. I thought it wouldn’t be fair to make him wait to Christmas so I handed out a new catnip mouse to each cat and for the next hour or so the house resounded to the sounds of intense licking, purring and finally snoring with each cat lying spread-eagled on the floor with his face overlapping a – by now – soggy catnip mouse! It was really funny to watch and because I wanted them to have a present for Christmas, I ordered another FOUR catnip mice. For some reason, Culpeper calls them CATNEP mice, but they are wonderful, with a very strong smell of catnip and my cats absolutely love them. I now have EIGHT soggy catnip mice lying in various places in the house and when one of the boys chance upon one, he’ll start licking, purring and so it all begins again! If your cats every go into that awful crouching stance, and start retching where their whole body seems to convulse, you’ll know that they’re about to chuck up, or barf as some of you put it. Stephanie in the US told me about PetSmart’s Hairball remedy which she said is very good. You can get it on this link: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751724&cp=2767033.2768979&sr=1 My friend Sandy, in Oregon, has a wonderful website: www.sundrop.designs.com and this month’s offer is the 12 Days of Kittens. Each ‘day’ is represented by a cute little kitten in various poses leading up to Christmas. They are absolutely gorgeous! For those of you who are gifted with a needle (sadly I’m not!) please click on this link: http://www.sundropdesigns.com/holiday.html We have some wonderful Christmassy stories for you to enjoy this month and although this Mewsletter will be slightly shorter there is no shortage of good things for you to read. My thanks go to Laura Dumm for her fantastic Christmas cartoon on the Home Page – and you can see her Cudell Street Christmas cartoon here on this link: http://www.thedailymews.com/Cudellstreetcats/christmaswishes.htm BOOK QUIZ There was a good response to the Book Quiz last month with some new names joining the regular entrants. The answers to the quiz are as follows:
The intrepid winners are: 1. Debbie Samler, Maryland, US 2. Judy Murphy, Canada 3. Jared Kline, Belgium 4. Dee Clark, US 5. Val Weigle, Florida, US For this month’s Book Quiz who wrote the following? 1. Animals as Teachers and Healers 2. Fur Babies: Why we love cats 3. Church Cats The first person who gets all the questions right will win a modest prize – so be quick with your replies. And now, on with the MEWS!!! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Articles Cat Chat Charity profile Cudell Street Cats by Laura Dumm Jim Willis Kitty Bits: Mewsletter Archives Quiz *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A hilarious and addictive game for you to play!!!! http://upchucky.com/games/hairball-bowling.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ARTICLES: An Angel In-Between by James Colasanti Jnr first appeared in an issue of Petwarmers. As I like Jim’s story-telling, I asked him if I could publish it on the website, and Jim agreed. The result is a heart-warming story about a boy and his dog’s love for him, a love that would stretch between Heaven and Earth. A really beautiful story. http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/an_angel_inbetween.htm Kathy Pippig Harris is a wonderful story-teller with a gift which holds the reader to the end. A Gift Given and Received was originally published on Petwarmers and is based on a true story. Click below to read: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/gift_given_and_received.htm Christmas Chaos by Marjorie Dorfman is an amusing, but insightful, look at all the obstacles that beset the harassed pet owner over the Christmas period, The article is full of helpful hints and tips to avoid having to make unnecessary (and expensive) trips to the Vets with your cat or dog choking on a Christmas bauble or piece of tinsel etc. Well worth reading. http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/Christmas_chaos.htm Lynn Schiffhorst has written another wonderfully crafted story in her series about Malkah, the little blind girl, and her kitten Honey. You can read the latest episode on this link: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/kitten_who_made_peace_on_earth.htm The Old Shepherd by Graeme Simms was written in 1982 and is as vibrant today as it was then. My thanks to Dale Haines (UK) for sending me this article – it’s very moving. http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/the_old_shepherd.htm Continuing the theme of keeping one’s animals safe at Christmas time, here is an article on Pet Safety which you may find helpful. http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/petsafetyatChristmas.htm Although Charlie is no longer with us, the memory of his past antics at Christmas time will live on forever, burnished in my mind! Read his story of the Christmas Tree Ascent here: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/ohchristmastree.htm I have several cat books written and illustrated by Vernon Coleman and his latest book, Cat Fables, is a real joy. I will be reviewing it in the future. Vernon kindly allowed me permission to use one of the fables on the website and you can read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/Price_of_Everything.htm CAT CHARITIES AND RESCUE CENTRES Debbie Samler is that rare breed of person who volunteers at a rescue centre. The Humane Society of Calvert County, Maryland, (US) is a no-kill rescue centre and relies heavily on its volunteers to foster cats and dogs in its care. If you would like to help with donations of food, bedding, money, your time, click on the link at the end of the article. To read about Debbie’s experiences, please click on this link: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/volunteering.htm CAT CHAT I had a lovely piece sent to me by a very talented cat called Lizzie who lives in Florida. Both her Humans are writers, so it’s only to be expected, I suppose, that Lizzie should hold her own in the creative arena. She has written a piece about Christmas and how although it’s a happy time, it comes with mixed blessings. Click on the link below to read more: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/christmas.htm We all know how hard it is to get our cats to eat certain foods and Richard Carlyon, in the UK, has written with a few tricks up his sleeves, to encourage his three cats, Storm, Spike and Smokey to eat. Click on the link below: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Food_fads.htm Our resident Feline Columnist, Jimmy, has got plenty to say (as usual) this month, and if you click on the link, you’ll see for yourselves: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/judging_by_your_appearance.htm JIM WILLIS You won’t fail to be moved by this touching Christmas poem by Jim Willis: A Puppy For Christmas. This poem isn’t on this website, so be sure to click on your ’back’ button to return to the Daily Mews! Click on the link below: http://www.wtv-zone.com/nywoman/PAGES/PAGE23.html KITTYBITS If you’re like me, you might like going on courses to improve your level of knowledge and understanding of your pet’s behaviour. These course are based in Kent, (UK) and is a series of either one-day courses or short 8 – 10 week courses on all aspects of pet behaviour and other things to do with understanding your pet. If you have pet behavioural courses/classes in your area, please let me have the details and I can add them to the section in Kittybits. Click on the link below to learn more: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/animal_courses.htm Well that about wraps it up for another month, and another year! Can you believe how quickly this year has flown by? All I have to do now is to wish each and every single one of you a very happy Christmas and every blessing for a peaceful, healthy and happy New Year. Billy, Timmy, Sam and Ollie would like to add: ‘MEOWY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY MEW YEAR to all cats everywhere! God bless you all – and thank you for your love and support throughout the year. I really appreciate you all. Take care, and I’ll see you soon! Pauline, Billy, Timmy, Sam and Ollie x x x x x BACK TO THE MEWSLETTER Archive Index
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