I had known Marg of the popular blog, Marg’s Pets, in the background of my mind though the many cat blogs I was beginning to visit on a regular basis. Though each blog I frequented was unique, any comments left by Marg had one common theme – she was a humble and kind-hearted soul looking out for the welfare of animals, feral cats in particular. Everyone else also had a warm word for Marg and I soon began to develop a friendship with this humanitarian. Read more

By nature, Rolz is about the laziest cat on the Planet. Garfield is his hero and an occasional bout of bullying his sisters, Mia and Peanut, or the elder cats, Jazz and Harley, is the extent of his exertion. So, you can only imagine his joy at the opportunity to laze in front of the TV all day long for the Super Bowl! There is the early morning pre-game to the afternoon pre-game to the pre-game, pre-game! Then, it’s all the snacks and goodies that magically appear all day long!! What’s a kitty to do but to grab the remote and claim his spot on the couch for an all day meowathon of feline football, Cat-donna, and crazy commercials! Plus, he has the ideal excuse to be lazy… his brother Zeuss lives in Boston, so it would be very rude if he did not root for the Patriots!!

The beauty about video as a medium, is that it can take the words from a book and bring them to life with startling reality! One of my favorite chapters of The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey is Chapter 23 – A Door is a Door is a Door. The whole essence of this chapter is the essence of the book – that cats find the ordinary in everyday life and make it extraordinary. No where is this more evident than Saturday mornings. Read more

Gracie at her feeding station - one of the Loews cats in jeopardy of being relocated.

Sometimes in life you do something for no other reason than it is the right thing to do. As the weeks continue in the Loews Portofino Resort battle versus the feral cats residing on the property, it appears no real compromise has been made as groups such as CARE Feline TNR, Alley Cat Allies, and Orange County Animal Services try to reason with hotel management to keep the cats safely on the property rather than relocating them as planned. The hotel has no legal obligation to provide for these cats, other than the implied fact of moral responsibility that they have knowingly allowed these cats to remain on premises since 2004 when Bellman, George Ricci, first discovered a wet, cold, hungry, and motherless kitten at the Loews Royal Pacific location (it should be of note that although we refer to the Loews Portofino in debate, the feral cats in both the Royal Pacific and the Portofino are subject to relocation).

Realizing that this story has much more to it than meets the eye, I decided to go to the source himself, George Ricci, for an exclusive interview to get a firsthand account as to the background of this now very complicated situation to try to make sense of it all. George first started at the Loews in Denver, Colorado in 1992 and moved to the Orlando Royal Pacific location in 2003 and then transferred to the Portofino in 2008. He was a Bellman in all three locations and at the end of 2011 he voluntarily went to “on-call” status to devote more time to his studies at becoming a court stenographer. Read more

I love the month of February. Not only is it Cat Appreciation Month, but February 14th is Valentine’s Day, which is the ultimate reminder to love someone. Actually, per the By-Laws of my house, every month is Cat Appreciation Month, but this got me to thinking that love comes in many different ways and not just the traditional romantic sense that you think of on Valentine’s Day. For me, my cats and what they give me emotionally and spiritually each and every day is the true essence of love and appreciation. I would much prefer to have Zoey snuggle on my lap than a box of chocolates. And while I do love a bouquet of roses, they only last for but a brief moment, unlike the endless entertainment I get watching my gang of seven zip playfully around the house. Read more