When you have seven cats like I do, you can be certain that I am all too familiar with that horrendous gagging sound a cat makes when it is about to hack up a hairball. You can also be certain that no matter where they coughed it up, I will step in it… it’s just the Murphy’s Law of humans and hairballs. So, when I was approached by Caroline Golon of the blog Romeo the Cat to try out the FURminator deShedding tool, I jumped at the chance. The only catch, I would be participating as part of a contest for National Hairball Awareness Day and would have to make a celebrity of my choice out of the fur I collected from brushing my cats after I received the FURminator they were going to send me…. Yawn, just another typical day in a life of an obsessed cat lover.

For those of you that are not hairball experts, I will give you a quick 101 on the subject. Basically, hairballs develop as a result of a cat’s common grooming routine. When the cat licks its fur, tiny hook-like structures on its tongue catch the loose and dead hair, which is then swallowed. The majority of this hair passes all the way through the digestive tract with no problems. But if some hair stays in the stomach, it can form a hairball. Typically the cat will hack up the hairball with no problems, but if you notice symptoms such as vomiting or gagging without producing a hairball, lack of appetite, lethargy, constipation, or diarrhea, be sure to contact your veterinarian, as this  could be an indication that a hairball has caused a potentially life-threatening blockage. Read more

Author & Radio Host, Nick Sacco

I recently had the distinct honor and pleasure of being a guest on Pet Talk Radio with host, Nick Sacco, to talk about all things Zee and Zoey related. This former Marine and police motorcycle officer might appear gruff on the surface – he has the look of someone who could stop trouble in its tracks, but one quickly learns that Nick is a kind and gentle soul with an endless supply of love, compassion, and support for all creatures, but, in particular, for cats.

In that regard, he has written a book called In Heaven Kittens Play that, through his own personal experiences with what he calls the “Blue Angel and Her Garden of Pets,” details why he believes the loss of a pet through death is not the end, but only the beginning for them.  Many of us are already familiar with the term “The Rainbow Bridge” – that place just before heaven where your pet goes and waits for you, until you too pass one day, and then you can cross the bridge together on to heaven. The Rainbow Bridge is a beautiful place filled with wondrous gardens, plenty of food, and health is renewed to full vigor.

For Nick, The Blue Angel is his own personal pet guardian that comes to him in visions and greets each animal in Nick’s life that has passed on. Nick has been privileged to witnessing these creatures, many old, many sickly, transformed before his very eyes to beautiful creatures, beaming with health and radiance as the Angel takes them to the Rainbow Bridge.  He retells these visions with vivid detail and while each passing is unique, the commonality is the joy and happiness that these animals experience with the Blue Angel.

While we all may have different views on the afterlife and religion, I think as pet lovers, we would at least agree that given the choice, we would want our pets to move on in peace and comfort to a happy, joyful, and welcoming place. I think this is especially true for the millions of animals that are abandoned each and every year without a loving forever home. Where do they go when they pass? Thankfully, Nick feels that they too, are finally given the love and friendships they so deserve as they live with the Blue Angel and Her Garden of Pets. Read more

Ingrid King

One of the many joys of Zee & Zoey’s Chronicle Connection for me has to be all of the wonderful people and animals I am meeting along the way.  I never in my wildest dreams thought my life would be so rich a tapestry, filled with so many people that share my love and passion for animals. One of these wonderful people is former veterinary manager, turned writer, Ingrid King. While Ingrid and I have only just begun to strike up a friendship, she is one of those kind souls that I somehow feel I have already known my whole life. I am very drawn to who she is as a person and we share a lot in common,  in particular, our love, respect and devotion to cats. It was this common bond that caused our paths to cross and how I came to fall in love with Buckley, a sweet, joyful, and wise beyond her years little cat that was sharing her forever home with Ingrid and the inspiration for the book Ingrid wrote, Buckley’s Story. Read more