For whatever unfathomable reason, shelter workers will tell you that statistically black cats are often the last to be adopted and the first to be euthanized. The reasons vary, but the ill-conceived superstition that they bring bad luck is at the top of the list. Other reasons are more superficial, such as that their black fur is harder to see in shelter cages and they are difficult to photograph. People have a tendency to fall in love at first sight with pets, so the more colorful pets have a far better shot at getting adopted. To help create awareness about this plight, today is National Black Cat Appreciation Day and in honor of that, I would like to share a special post from a friend of mine I introduced you to a few weeks ago, Liz Wyman of Cats Love Naps who has made it her personal quest to help get me on the Ellen DeGeneres Show! Liz knows firsthand the unjustified prejudices black cats face in shelters and makes it her mission to help dispel the myths so that more black cats are adopted into loving homes. Read more

Zee and Zoey look wistfully out the window missing Crystal and Jackie. Harley lifts her head momentarily from her nap and says, “What? No one told me we had company… how long were the girls here?”

Saying goodbye to family is never easy and when Dan’s girls left yesterday to go back home to Boston, it left us with a swell of emotions. We were so blessed to have had their company, but we also lost a dear friend to cancer several days prior to their arrival, causing the visit to be bittersweet. We did our best to celebrate his memory and live in the moment, and rather say “goodbye” as they boarded the plane, we called it “we’ll see you soon.” But, no matter the words, we will miss them terribly and it only goes to serve the lesson once again how fragile life is and that you really need to embrace every precious minute you have with those you love when you can. Read more

And so it begins… The “Real Men Love Cats” t-shirt as seen worn by Jackson Galaxy of My Cat From Hell. Photo courtesy of Kate Benjamin of Hauspanther.

Before I begin, lets just cut to the chase. I adore Toni Nicholson of RCTees, the t-shirt company forever immortalized by Jackson Galaxy of My Cat From Hell wearing the iconic “Real Men Love Cats” t-shirt. While there is no doubt she is a warm, loving, compassionate, and generous human being, especially when it comes to helping animal causes related to adoption, spay & neuter, and helping misplaced pets in disaster relief efforts, it is her wit and razor sharp comedic timing that keeps me coming back for more. Read more

The kitties and I are so excited to report that we will be going on a mini vacation until Tuesday of next week because we have family coming to visit!! That’s right, Dan’s daughters, Crystal and Jackie, will be coming from Boston and that means a few well deserved days off!! Okay, maybe I am more excited than the cats, but once they realize that the world is not coming to an end and that they can maneuver all sorts of extra attention, loving, and playtime, all will be well!! As it is, they have all assumed their positions in the tiki and are looking forward to conning the girls that they are allowed outside, unsupervised. Which, they are not….

Speaking of that… one of the gang seems to be missing. Just where the heck is that trouble maker, Kizmet? Read more

A rare look into the other side of my life with Dan – sans leopard and the cat ears!

Many eons ago in an uncivilized world, I had another life. A life that involved cats, but only in the sense they were beloved household family members and I had a different job. A job that entailed executive administrative and marketing work, but it was long before AOL dialup was introduced to the mainstream public, emails, iPhones, Internet, Google, blogs, and Facebook. Thankfully I did live in a world with running water, electricity, cars, air conditioning, televisions, telephones with long black cords, and computers with the ability to create endless excel spreadsheets to save on what was called a “floppy disk,” or I don’t know how I would have survived under such archaic conditions…

I worked for a body armor manufacturer back then and it was also then that I met Dan for the first time in 1999. I happened to be married at the time and our relationship was strictly one of co-workers and I did not give it much thought other than that. Completely unrelated to Dan, I went through a divorce in 2003 and it was shortly after that time that we realized we had a great friendship developing and started dating. Eventually we became engaged, he moved in, 8 cats later, we have been an inseparable team ever since. Read more