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MEWSLETTER 67 30 JULY 2008 Hi there and a very big warm head-butting welcome to all our new subscribers. Please feel free to forward this Mewsletter to your feline loving family members and friends. First of all, I apologise PROFUSELY for the weird format of the first Mewsletter I sent out last month. I have absolutely no idea why it would turn out that way. That’s why you received the second – ‘amended’ issue. I do apologise and trust that won’t happen again. Some of you wrote with suggestions as to why my cats might be spraying around the house; perhaps it’s because they are aware that I’m not very well and am anxious about the treatment and that is transmitting itself to them was mooted. This could be true but I do feel it’s more to do with the change in their environment with all their familiar things being spread throughout the house in other rooms. Once every thing is restored and they can see their toys in the old places then they should be ok again. They don’t seem to be spraying at the moment, which is good. It doesn’t help that the neighbour’s two cats, Clive and Chloe, come in all the time and help themselves to the leftover food which is lying around. In the summer months I take the food up because I hate the flies that come in and settle on it. Chloe had 3 kittens on July 2nd – as Clive hadn’t been neutered he is the father and he perpetrated the deed (several times!) in my dining room! Poor little Chloe is such a tiny little cat – barely out of kittenhood herself. I wondered what kind of mother she might make but she has proved to be a wonderful and attentive mother. I also wonder at people who are insensitive to the fact that neutering and spaying cats is the ONLY way to stop the population explosion and all the heartless deaths each day because there just aren’t sufficient homes for every cat. But the Neutering Fairy God Person took Clive to the vets and his people are none the wiser to the fact that he is missing a vital part of his anatomy! He is quite a nice natured cat now and is quite obedient. I tell him to sit down when he wants a meal and he does and he knows that he won’t get fed unless he sits down first. I saw a television programme on Animal Planet recently which really upset me. 247 cats were taken out of one house in Michigan. It took a team of several animal rescuers from the Michigan Humane Society 16 hours spread over two days to clear the house of all the cats. They worked in terrible conditions: faecal matter was piled high in every room, the litter trays were overflowing, and there were cats on every shelf, surface, and window ledge throughout the house, roof and cellar. Everywhere you looked were pairs of eyes. How they worked in those conditions I’ll never know. How the owner actually LIVED in those conditions without being seriously ill, I don’t know. And the poor cats – well, what they endured is anyone’s guess. The tragedy is that every single cat had to be put to sleep. Why? Because they were all wild, feral, and because they had been interbreeding from the original pregnant cat the owner took in, they probably had severe genetic problems. How could this tragedy been avoided?? Simple. By neutering the kittens once they were the right age to be neutered and by spaying the female once she had weaned the kittens. It is the only responsible thing to do if you are not intending to breed from your cat. And it is totally unnecessary for a female cat to have one litter of kittens before she is spayed. What she doesn’t have, she won’t miss, I promise you. Has your cat (or dog) changed your way of life? Did you perhaps change direction because of something your cat did which made you sit up and take notice? Jackie Murphy, whose moving tribute to her little cat Timmy, is in the NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM section, had been an office worker. Faced with a cat with behavioural problems Jackie started researching animal behaviour to see if she could help him adjust and settle down. And the rest, as they say, is history. Jackie is now an animal behaviourist and runs courses in our neck of the woods. If you have changed your life or yourself in some way because of your pets, please write and let me know. A friend of mine in North Carolina has two kittens that he’d like homed together. They are beautiful boys, one is black and the other is a brown tabby. If you live in the area and are interested, please contact me and I’ll get in touch with him and he can contact you. No time wasters please. For those of you in the UK Go Cat have launched a product for indoor cats. You can download a free coupon worth 50p off 950g pack by going to: If there are similar offers in other countries perhaps those of you living in those countries could let me know and I can mention them in future issues of the Mewsletter so that everyone gets a present! Hey – isn’t it good to get something cheaper in these days of counting every penny. I’ve also got a huge stash of the Felix tokens saved up if anyone wants them. If you go to www.catslikefelix.co.uk and click on ‘goodies’ you can decide what you want and if you need more tokens, contact me and I’ll send them to you. Speaking of penny-counting I’ve had a number of emails all regarding helpful information during the credit crunch. I will put something together for the next issue with website links etc. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A hilarious and addictive game for you to play!!!! http://upchucky.com/games/hairball-bowling.html *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* BOOK QUIZ: Due to a typo in the last issue of the Mewsletter no one got all the answers right to the Book Quiz but as it was my fault, I’ve waived that and awarded first prize to Donna Lillis-Lynch from Ohio who was the first respondent. The answers to the quiz are as follows: 1. Pieces of my heart – Jim Willis 2. The truth about cats – Philip Ardagh 3. Ask Your Animal – Marta Williams Other than Donna, the super-sleuths below made a valiant attempt to get the right answers: Jared Kline in Belgium Nancy Breedlove from WI I want the author to the book titles below and if you have a website you can nominate it, or you can nominate a favourite site. A modest prize will be given for the first respondent so hurry up and don’t miss out! Who wrote the following: 1. Time Travelling Cat and the Viking Terror 2. Sheba and the White Whisker 3. The Cat Lover’s Treasury Send your answers to p.dewberry@ntlworld.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ARTICLES Lynn Schiffhorst’s latest story in the Honey series is very moving and had me in tears! There are only two more episodes left in this series so I do hope you’ll email Lynn to let her know your views/comments on her beautiful writing. Her email address is at the end of each story. Here’s the link to the latest story: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/honey_goes_into_the_light.htm BOOK REVIEWS I’ve read some great books this month and all the titles and links to the reviews are given below. I was also lucky enough to interview Marta Williams by email and I was given permission to publish an extract from her book, ASK YOUR ANIMAL on the website. Ask Your Animal by Marta Williams http://www.thedailymews.com/bookproductreviews/ask_your_animal.htm If you would like to read an extract from the book, please click here: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/Ask_your_animal_extract.htm Pieces of my heart by Jim Willis: http://www.thedailymews.com/bookproductreviews/pieces_of_my_heart.htm The Cats of Moon Cottage by Marilyn Edwards http://www.thedailymews.com/bookproductreviews/moon_cottage_cats.htm The truth about cats by Philip Ardagh http://www.thedailymews.com/bookproductreviews/truth_about_cats.htm Where the Redwing Sings by Ed Kostro http://www.thedailymews.com/bookproductreviews/where_the_redwing_sings.htm An Interview with Marta Williams, author of ASK YOUR ANIMAL: http://www.thedailymews.com/bookproductreviews/marta_williams.htm CAPTION COMPETITION The caption competition drew some good responses as well. Thanks to Jared for allowing me to use a picture of his cat, Little Del. Thanks to all who took part and you can see the full range of answers here on this link: http://www.thedailymews.com/KittyBits/caption_competition3.htm Well done to Dixie Whitman from the US for the most original response. A prize is on its way to her. The next caption competition can be found here. http://www.thedailymews.com/KittyBits/caption_competition4.htm CAT CHAT Clara Wersterfer wrote a beautifully moving account of her little feral kitten Petie, and his brother, Pretty. A confirmed ‘dog lover’ Petie and Pretty changed her mind. Do cats know when a sibling or house mate is ill? Do they know when they’re going to make that transition to Rainbow Bridge? I think so. Read Clara’s wonderful story and then make up your mind. http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Petie.htm Roberta Beach Jacobson wrote about Opi, a one-eyed ‘mutt’ that was rescued by a volunteer vet in Greece. Roberta agreed to adopt Opi and he settled in really well with her raggle-taggle family of cats and kittens. Read Opi’s heart-warming story here: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/sea_dog.htm Will Perry in Canada wrote about his friend’s cat, Zeke, who was a fearless mouser once the effects of catnip had done its work. Click on the link below to read more: http://www.thedailymews.com/catchat/Zeke_fearless_mouser.htm JIM WILLIS Having read ‘Pieces of My Heart’ written by Jim recently, he gave me permission to put an extract from the Bassett Chronicles on the site. I chose ‘Deck the Halls, and Alexis too’ because it’s so funny. It’s Alexis the Bassett Hound’s take on the traditions of Christmas. You can read it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/articles/deck_the_halls.htm KITTY BITS It’s a sad fact that 70% of cats that are surrendered back to animal centres and pounds because of behavioural problems have been declawed. The reason for this is because very often they exhibit behavioural traits and problems which would not have existed had they been left with their claws intact. If you’re worried about a cat scratching the furniture then make sure you purchase a scratching post or pad and from DAY ONE get your cat used to using it instead of the furniture. If there isn’t a scratching post available, what else will your cat use to stretch up on and exercise himself??? Harriet Baker wrote the following piece of advice on training a cat to use a scratching post. It’s good advice. http://www.thedailymews.com/KittyBits/train_cats_to_use_scratcher.htm Marjorie Dorfman wrote yet another interesting piece about cats and President Lincoln. You can see it here: http://www.thedailymews.com/KittyBits/cats_and_Lincoln.htm MEWSERS MEWSINGS Jimmy, our roving feline reporter’s latest story comes from Greece. http://www.thedailymews.com/mewsersmewsings/hope_dies_last.htm NAPPING ON A SUNBEAM I’ve had a number of emails recently from people who’ve lost their beloved cats and it breaks my heart to hear just how desperately sad they feel. It is never easy losing a pet and sometimes when they have to go, we have to make that last decision out of our great love for them – it’s our final act of love – but it doesn’t make it any easier to bear. Jackie Murphy who lives in Kent and is a friend of mine wrote to me recently to let me know about little Timmy. You can read her tribute here: http://www.thedailymews.com/NAPPINGONASUNBEAM/timmy_murphy.htm Ollie celebrates his 6th birthday on 1st August and Billy and Timmy will be 12 on 4th August. A number of you celebrate your birthdays in August, Ed Kostro – for one – happy birthday Ed! And I am a relic of undetermined age (perhaps they’ll carbon date me!!) also in August – so felicitations to humans and felines alike if you’re celebrating a birthday this month. The next issue of the Mewsletter will be (paws crossed) towards the end of August. In the mean time, please write with your views – good or bad – and don’t forget your captions and book entries. Have a great summer and I’ll speak to you again soon. To those who are still mourning the loss of a beloved feline friend, may you feel God’s arms of love surrounding you at this time. Take care, Pauline – Editor Billy, Timmy, Sam and Ollie |
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