{"id":15562,"date":"2015-10-24T00:10:22","date_gmt":"2015-10-24T04:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=15562"},"modified":"2016-01-17T09:44:07","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T14:44:07","slug":"mojito-cats-fundraising-jackson-galaxy-and-more-celebrating-the-20-year-anniversary-of-the-cat-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/mojito-cats-fundraising-jackson-galaxy-and-more-celebrating-the-20-year-anniversary-of-the-cat-network\/","title":{"rendered":"Mojito Cats, Fundraising, Jackson Galaxy and More – Celebrating the 20 Year Anniversary of the Cat Network"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo credit: The Cat Network<\/p><\/div>\n

As a cat person, when you get to take a break from changing litter boxes, cleaning up hair balls, and wiping fur off the furniture and your clothes to go to a fancy event (the 20 year anniversary\/ fundraising gala for the Cat Network<\/a> of Miami), you really take advantage of it. Especially when the scheduled guest speaker is none other than the Cat Daddy himself, Jackson Galaxy<\/a> of My Cat From Hell<\/a>!<\/p>\n

The event was last Saturday and I must admit I felt like Cinderella getting ready for a ball. I broke out my fanciest cat ears (gold sparkle lined), curled my rat\u2019s nest of hair, and put on my swankiest gown (also known as my only gown). I was escorted by my handsome Prince Charming, Dan (who happens to be my favorite Cat Daddy), and off we went to enjoy an evening of cocktails, gourmet\u00a0vegetarian food, music, and a silent fundraising auction.<\/p>\n

When we arrived, I was immediately impressed with the number of people and organizations that had donated items for the auction. There was so much stuff to bid on that they actually needed several rooms to hold it all! I had contributed several of my books \u2013 The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey<\/em> and Purr Prints of the Heart<\/em> and was relieved to see that by nights end they had brought in some nice donations!<\/p>\n

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There was room after room filled with great items to bid on!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Our friend Toni Nicholson from RCTees (known for her wildly popular “Real Men Love Cats” T-shirt) donated some items for the fundraiser! Thanks Toni!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Here I am in my cat-ear, gown-wearing glory as I stand next to the books I donated. You can’t see it, but I promise I am wearing leopard – my shoes!<\/p><\/div>\n

I also got a chance to catch up with Christine Michaels of Riverfront Cats<\/a> who is always my favorite accessory (who doesn\u2019t look good standing next to her?) along with fellow cat loving friends, Cathi De Meo Marro<\/a>\u00a0of the South Florida Flute Orchestra and Jodi Ziskin of Healthy Cat Pro<\/a>\u00a0(Dan and I had previously met them when we attended the Global Pet Expo in 2014 that resulted in us\u00a0bringing home our sweet Jazmine). The highlight of our chat was when we all took out our cell phones to share pictures of our feline babies!<\/p>\n

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This is where Cathi (who also played the flute for the event), Jodi, and I shared pictures of our kitties\u00a0that we had on our iPhones!<\/p><\/div>\n

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I absolutely love this image of Cathi and Beth Hackney (a fellow cat lover that I met for the first time that night). They played such lovely music and it was so nice of them to donate their time and talent as\u00a0part of the event.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A classic photo taken with Christine Michaels. Doesn’t she look radiant!?<\/p><\/div>\n

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This is Erin – we made his night when we asked him to pose with us as we nibbled on some of the most delicious appetizers I have ever eaten – a yummy concoction of phyllo crust, brie, walnuts, honey, and brown sugar!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Only at a cat event can you see so many cool and creative things! These are custom designed cupcakes from a company called “Taste Mamas Cake.”<\/p><\/div>\n

That\u2019s what I love best about cat related events \u2013 where else can you so comfortably mingle in a sea of ladies wearing cat ears and openly share pictures of your furbabies? In that regard, thank you so much to the Cat Network \u2013 they did a wonderful job coordinating the gala\u00a0and have much to be proud of – an organization that started in 1995 with a handful of compassionate women\u00a0looking to help stray and abandoned cats on the streets of Miami has grown to over 2,500 volunteer and donor members.<\/p>\n

They have trapped and sterilized over 51,000 stray and abandoned cats and have adopted out over 7,000 cats since 1995. And their mission, \u201cto make everyone aware of this huge community problem and to be proactive in fighting it by spaying and neutering pets and strays,\u201d remains strong and true. They are also working diligently to make South Florida a No-Kill community and that\u2019s why Jackson Galaxy was the perfect guest speaker, because that\u2019s who he is at his very core. Ever since I\u2019ve known him, his wish has been for a world in which no animals have to die needlessly and he continues to work to make that dream a reality.<\/p>\n

I had heard Jackson speak previously in 2012 at the Cat Writers\u2019 Conference in Los Angeles and that talk centered around his first book, Cat Daddy \u2013 What the World\u2019s Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean.<\/em> Jackson Galaxy in 2015 is a different person. He is still a cat lover and he is still covered in tattoos, but he is a household recognizable name now. A brand. Rather than focus on his books (he has since written two more since Cat Daddy), or his show, his speech was about what we can do as cat ambassadors to get\u00a0people to be more accepting of cats so that more of them are adopted into homes and not brought to shelters in the first place.<\/p>\n

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Jackson makes his grand entrance up to the podium!!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Jackson makes himself at home as he begins his talk! Any guess which person is me in the audience? Geez… what gave it away?<\/p><\/div>\n

His solution\u00a0\u2013 by providing the best “mojo” \u00a0we can for cats so that they can live in an environment that lets them establish territorial ownership along with their\u00a0pre-wired disposition\u00a0\u00a0to hunt, catch, kill, and eat (mojo is\u00a0defined as walking through the world in the minds-eye of a cat\u00a0and learning what it is that motivates them). He says if those things aren’t in place, especially the ownership aspect, then bad things can happen (after all, cats have really only been living in homes with us for about 120 years). He puts cats into three categories, and\u00a0for him, he strives for every cat to be a Mojito cat.<\/p>\n

A Mojito cat is the one that has that John Travolta swagger – \u00a0a cat that walks boldly into a room with her tail held high with a relaxed, backward question mark hook to it. She is a happy, let me weave in and out of your legs kind\u00a0of\u00a0girl who is confident in her surroundings.<\/p>\n

The Napoleon cat is the one that is insecure. He needs to prove something and will puff his chest out in an offensive, aggressive posture. He might lie down across the doorway of a house to make sure you have to step over him and he might pee on things because he doesn\u2019t trust his ownership of the territory.<\/p>\n

Lastly is the Wallflower cat. She is the one that politely hopes you won\u2019t notice her as she sneaks by to use the litter box. She hugs the wall as she walks by and you never see her in the center of the room because she doesn\u2019t think she is the owner of the territory, nor does she want trouble with whoever is.<\/p>\n

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In our house, Jazmine is the epitome of a Mojito cat. Kizmet is more of a Napoleon, and Mia a Wallflower. I must say, however, that for the most part, all of our cats are Mojito cats. We make sure to provide them with the best environment we can to let their inner mojo flow and it really works to keep them all happy and healthy.<\/p><\/div>\n

Whether through hunt and play games, vertical space for cats to lay claim to, proper diet, veterinary care, and spay\/neuter to help keep the personalities and health in check, the point is to try to get all cats as confident as we can of the territory they live in. That\u2019s when the magic \u2013 the mojo – happens and those people that had doubts about whether or not a cat makes a good pet, well, now they become believers.<\/p>\n

After his talk, the event ended with a picture taking meet and greet which was a lot of fun. Jackson was a great sport and all in all, the Cat Network put together a wonderful event. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with so many great cat-minded people and I hope they were able to raise lots of funding to help with spay and neuter, fostering, educational efforts, and more.<\/p>\n

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After the talk, I get a hug from Jackson. Life can’t be that bad if you get a hug from Jackson Galaxy, right!?<\/p><\/div>\n

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A more traditional pose with Jackson! So cool!<\/p><\/div>\n

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For those of you that were unable to attend the gala but would like to learn more about cat mojo and the Mojito, Napoleon, and Wallflower cats, please check out this video from Jackson in which he discusses it in detail! After you watch it, let me know – what kinds of cats do you have?<\/p>\n