{"id":11564,"date":"2014-02-01T04:50:14","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T09:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=11564"},"modified":"2014-02-01T11:06:16","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T16:06:16","slug":"the-caturday-state-of-the-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/the-caturday-state-of-the-union\/","title":{"rendered":"The Caturday State of the Union"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Zee-and-Zoey---Love-Story-Current-Today\"<\/a>

Zee and Zoey might have their differences, but they know the most important rule of a fight… never go to bed angry with the one you love…<\/p><\/div>\n

I never considered my cats to be too interested in politics, but after Tuesday\u2019s State of the Union Address, I heard a loud and rambunctious hissy fit in the making. I was already in bed and it was dark so I don\u2019t know who had the difference of opinion, but my gut feeling was it probably had something to do with President Obama talking about income inequality. Zoey must have felt the need to remind Zee that she was the powerhouse of the family and that without her, there would be no Zee & Zoey franchise in the first place. Or they just could have been arguing over a Temptations Treat that was on the floor \u2013 it\u2019s really too close to call\u2026<\/p>\n

Naturally all of that got me to thinking \u2013 I always watch the State of the Union and want to be optimist, but it all just seems so contrived at this point that I don\u2019t even know what end is up anymore. I think my biggest frustration is the divide we have. Is it really necessary to have two political parties that seem to constantly keep one another at bay so that nothing productive ever gets done? Why not just one collective House and Senate that equates to the most qualified people for the job that has nothing to do with party lines. Just run the country and be done with it.<\/p>\n

\"KizmetRolz04\"<\/a>

Step one – Rolz and Kizmet reenact what the government would be like if cats ran the White House…<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s another reason I love cats \u2013 if you give them the basic necessities \u2013 love, food, and shelter \u2013 they are content. The care not one whit if you are single, black, white, gay, rich, poor, married, female, male, employed, or unemployed. They also don\u2019t care if you have a college degree or what you think of abortion, foreign policy, same-sex marriage or immigration. In other words, to them, we are a melting pot of collective individuals that amount to a singular race called human-beings, despite the differences we have. And sure, cats fight and they have differences too. But typically they get over them quickly \u2013 a hiss, a swat, and a growl. Then it\u2019s back to napping and the world is restored to its natural order!<\/p>\n

\"KizmetRolzSofa\"<\/a>

Step two… \u00a0What disagreement? Let’s take a nap and call it a \u00a0day!<\/p><\/div>\n

But, the truth is, I can\u2019t make light of it all, nor is it that simple. Cats are affected by the State of the Union just like people are. Very few cats live in the upper class echelon with diamond studded collars and caviar dreams. The majority of cats live on the streets and in shelters in poverty like a great portion of our human population. Many of them used to be cats that had a home but because their owners might have lost a job, or a house, or they can no longer feed themselves, let alone a pet, they have brought them to a shelter or abandoned them on the street as a last resort.<\/p>\n

\"cats-eating\"<\/a>

While my cats eat healthy food every single day, not all cats are so blessed and are forced to live on the streets, struggling to keep themselves alive…<\/p><\/div>\n

And for those in the middle class, that too is no longer what it used to be and most of us are struggling just to pay the basic bills and get through the day. We don\u2019t have savings, we don\u2019t have retirement, and we don\u2019t wake up feeling confident that we have job security. As a result of that, many cats are no longer getting basic preventative health care because people now consider that a \u201cluxury item\u201d and can\u2019t afford it. Often a visit to the vet comes as a result of an emergency when it is too late to help the pet.<\/p>\n

\"Kizmet--First-Vet\"<\/a>

This was Kizmet at his first visit to the vet. Thankfully he was saved from living on the streets and has a warm, safe, and loving home…<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s all interconnected \u2013 if we could take better care of ourselves, we could take better care of our cats. In my ideal world we would have a government that is working towards a national welfare plan for the well being of animals just like we are trying to make a national healthcare plan. Naturally my plan would work, however, and not be rife with arguing, discrepancies, falsehoods, and websites that don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

Mine would be a program that instituted mandatory classroom courses on pet responsibility and spay\/neuter at staggered grade levels because education is critical to finding a way to reduce cat overpopulation. And it would also be a program to fund affordable spay\/neuter clinics and veterinary care across the country. If we did something as simple as taking a measly 50 cents a week out of our paychecks that was diverted to a federal fund, it would amount to millions of dollars to fund these programs with minimal effort.<\/p>\n

\"deb-and-kids\"<\/a>

It is a small step to a big problem, but one of the highlights of my life was the day I got to spend some time with my step-daughter Crystal’s 3rd grade class. I got to talk to them about my book and pet responsibility and it was wonderful to know I was able to share such a positive message about cats with them.<\/p><\/div>\n

Right now it all sounds like a pipe dream, but I do hope that one day my dreams are actually a reality. Until then, may we continue to learn lessons from our cats and try to become a nation that is less divided so that we can focus on what\u2019s really important, like catnip, sunbeams, naps, and defeating the evil red dot from the laser pen once and for all\u2026<\/p>\n

\"cats-together\"<\/a>

When all else fails, a good cat nap is always the best party line to choose!<\/p><\/div>\n

Oh, and Happy February – it’s officially spay\/neuter month and I will be posting about it here and there in the days to follow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I never considered my cats to be too interested in politics, but after Tuesday\u2019s State of the Union Address, I heard a loud and rambunctious hissy fit in the making. I was already in bed and it was dark so I don\u2019t know who had the difference of opinion, but my gut feeling was it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[175,430,761],"class_list":["post-11564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-healing","tag-cat-behavior","tag-cat-naps","tag-cats-running-the-government"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/KizmetRolz04.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11564"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11585,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11564\/revisions\/11585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}