My lap on any typical evening.

It was around 8:00 p.m., and Dan and I were finally settled on the couch for the evening. I think I had at least two cats sleeping on me and Dan one or two. Dan’s phone rang – it was a co-worker. He had found an abandoned neonatal kitten (neonatal is a kitten defined as newborn to four weeks old) at the facility where they work, outside in the rain, and he needed help. The mother cat was nowhere to be found, nor were there littermates. It was clear if he didn’t intervene, the kitten would not survive. Read more

I realize it’s been forever since I posted and I wanted to let you know all is well, just many personal and work-related commitments that have been keeping me busy and off the radar. Now that the world is starting to normalize a bit more, I wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a wonderful summer before time escaped me and to share some tips to keep our cats safe, happy, and healthy during this time of year, as they can be adversely affected by the upcoming 4th of July, the searing summer temperatures, and the influx of gatherings that will be occurring in the months to come as we begin to invite more family and friends back into our homes. Read more

Photo credit: Sam Lion from Pexels

Rescue animals were TIME magazine’s 2020 Pet of the Year and with the new normal associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s really not a surprise. With stay-at-home orders issued across the U.S. in March 2020 and continuing nearly a year later for much of the population, people and families are hungry for the love and companionship a pet can bring. According to a survey published in January 2021 from Porch.com, Americans adopted 750,000 animals from shelters since the pandemic began, a 3% higher rate than the previous year, with 55% of the adoptions, cats. Read more

Back in the fall of 2015, I was laid off. I’d been laid off before, so I was experienced with the “it’s not you, you’re great, but we’re just going in a different direction,” scenario. Regardless of how they sugarcoat the blow, it’s demoralizing, and it hurts, especially considering I was living from paycheck to paycheck, so any negative change in income was bad news. Like grief, one tends to process the pain in various stages, and for me, one of the ways that helped get me through the days as I struggled to look for new employment was taking early morning walks around the neighborhood to clear my head and start each day with a positive outlook. Read more

It’s often said when one rescues a pet that it’s the pet that rescues the person. There’s a reason for it – because it’s true. At least it’s true for me and the story I share in the anthology, Rescued Volume 2: The Healing Stories of 12 Cats, Through Their Eyes. Or more accurately, the story I share as written in the perspective of my angel cat, Mr. Jazz, and how he brought our sweet rescue Jazmine to my fiancé, Dan, and I from the afterlife. Read more