Just Chillin'

Our Cube is ALIVE!

BREAKING NEWS:
Our cube has sprouted legs and a tail, and was spotted walking across the room.

In other news, Clarence has announced his acquisition of a new double-wide mobile home.

Happy Birthday/Gotcha Day !

(Mommy has highjacked our blog today for her annual sappy birthday drivel):

Today we celebrate all of my precious cats’ birthdays/gotcha days. It all started seven years ago…

Grrreta came into my life as an adult cat on April 19, 2005. I didn’t know what to expect adopting an adult cat, but it has been absolute pure joy. When I try to describe Grrreta, the only word that comes to mind is “perfect”. She brightens every day, and I am thankful to have been given the great honor of being her mom. 

Teddi also came into my life as an adult cat. She was feral and a new mom in May of 2007. It took almost six months of patience and Stinky Goodness to convince her to let me touch her, but it was definitely worth the wait. Feeding, vaccinating, spaying/neutering, earning trust, and providing a home for a feral cat is incredibly rewarding. I knew it would make an enormous difference in her life, but I had no idea what a difference it would make in mine. Watching her blossom into a healthy, happy, loving cat with a forever home has been absolutely amazing.

Ambrose and Chloe were 4 week old feral kittens when Teddi moved them to my back yard in June of 2007. They were already fearful of humans when they arrived, so I had to be patient and earn their trust. It was pure joy watching them grow up, knowing they would never be hungry or homeless as would likely be the case if they had remained feral. The best part was that they got to stay with their mamacat too. It was heartwarming to see Teddi be such a great mom, teach them how to be cats, and make them feel so very loved.  

Clarence mysteriously appeared on my back deck in June of 2011. He was around 5 weeks old and had somehow gotten separated from his mamacat. I fed him outdoors and watched from a window for hours waiting to see if his mamacat would return. I was torn...If they were to be reunited he would grow up feral which is a hard life, but I didn’t want him to miss out on the love and lessons that only a mamacat can give, and I didn’t want his mamacat to suffer the loss of a kitten either. When she didn’t return, I felt relief that Clarence would have the chance to have a forever home. He has been the perfect addition to our family. I am grateful to his mamacat for choosing our yard, and setting into motion the chain of events that lead her precious kitten to have the chance to grow up happy, healthy, and surrounded by love in his very own forever home.

  

Happy Birthday/Gotcha Day, Grrreta, Ambrose, Teddi, Chloe, and Clarence!

Thank you to our friends for stopping by on our special day! Please help yourself to some of our party treats: catnip, ham, real live dead shrimps, meowgaritas, niptinis, and silver vine. (It's the least we can do to make up for making you read through all that sappy stuff our mommy wrote. )

She Did It Again!

Hi Kitties,

I love surprises...and there was huge surprise for my Gotcha Day today.  No, the surprise was not for me. It was for Mommy. It occurred 18.75 hours into my Gotcha Day when she started helping us visit the CB blogs and made it to the C's. Yep, the Cat Blogosphere blog...and there in the third item of today' post was a very familiar name. Mine!..."Happy Gotcha Day to Grrreta!" She couldn't believe her eyes. It gets even worse...this is the second year she forgot my special day. She has been trying to convince me that she is very busy at work this time of year, and that she was planning a celebration for all five of us kitties on May 1st, because all of our birthdays/gotcha days are within a couple of weeks of that day. All I can say is that she better be planning the party of the century for May 1st in order to make up for forgetting my Gotcha Day. She has been warned. Fortunately, thanks to my awesome blogging friends, lots of you stopped by and wished me a happy Gotcha Day and truly made my day wonderful. Thank you for your sweet and thoughtful wishes on my special day! Now, I have a very busy evening planned...giving Mommy the stink eye.

Hunting for Toy Mousey

Mr. Chewy Review

Recently, several of our cat blogging friends have posted reviews of their experiences ordering pet food from Mr. Chewy. After reading their positive reviews and checking out the Mr. Chewy website, we were seriously considering placing an order. Deciding which items to order and getting Mommy motivated to place the order was taking a while, so we were thrilled when we were offered a coupon to use on the Mr. Chewy website in exchange for our review of their services.

We are especially impressed that Mr. Chewy has been reaching out to promote their services to pet bloggers. That seems very smart to us. We are a community of people who love pets, take great care of our furry family members, and are the perfect demographic for a smart pet product company to want as customers.    

So, on to our review...
We like the selection of high quality pet products offered on the Mr. Chewy website. We ordered a bag of Blue Buffalo Finicky Feast Chicken and Turkey Recipe Dry Cat Food, a bag of Taste of the Wild Canyon River Trout and Smoked Salmon Dry Cat Food, and an assortment of Tiki Cat canned cat food. We wanted to know which shipper they would be using for delivery, so we clicked the CHAT LIVE button on the Mr. Chewy website, and the lovely and talented Francesca answered our question within seconds. We placed our order, and it was delivered within four working days. We like all three products we ordered, but by far our favorite is the Blue Buffalo Finicky Feast Dry Cat Food. All five of us kitties really like the taste of it. The ordering process was easy and convenient, the products arrived in good condition delivered to our front door, and our order arrived quickly. Their prices are competitive. Most of their prices we compared were slightly higher than those at the national chain pet food retailer in our city, but when you take into consideration that there is no additional charge for shipping on orders over $49 and the product is delivered to your front door, we think it could definitely be well worth the slight difference in price for busy people like our mom to order from Mr. Chewy and be able to spend more time with their pets instead of having to drive to the store and lug home heavy bags of cat food and litter.  We are very pleased with our entire experience ordering from Mr. Chewy.

Here is a picture of Ambrose inspecting our order shortly after it was delivered.

Mr. Chewy offers:
- 70+ Brands – a wide selection and adding new in demand brands regularly.
- Subscription based ordering is available for hassle free delivery of your favorite products.
- Prompt shipping throughout the United States.
- Free Shipping for any order over $49

In the interest of full disclosure, we did received a $50 coupon in exchange for our honest review of their services, but that did not influence our opinions of their services or the information in this post.

Anatomy of a Nap - Ambrose and Clarence

New Year's Resolution

Hi Kitties,
I've been hard at work on my new year's resolution...to master the perfect sleeping position on my mom's bed, so that with the help of my brofur and sisfurs, Mommy will have to figure out how to sleep on an area of the bed the size of a toy mousie. On second thought, toy mousie will need somewhere to sleep too. I hope he doesn't mind sharing his space with Mommy.

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving

We wish all our blogging friends a very happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for:

• our forever home
• a mommy who loves us...always 
• brofurs and sisfurs with whom to snuggle and play
• yummy noms, treats, and toys
• our thoughtful, enlightened, witty, kind, and amazing blogging friends

...and this year we are especially thankful for our new brofur, Clarence, who is very thankful he has gone from a tiny, lost, feral kitten

to a big, healthy, happy mancat-in-training with a forever home.

We are also very thankful for all the amazing work our blogging friends do to save and protect animals through rescue, fostering, volunteering, TNR, caring for feral colonies, promoting the adoption of shelter pets, raising awareness about issues affecting the welfare of animals, blogging about the joys of sharing your home with a pet, being loving and responsible pawrents to your pets, offering understanding and  humor to comfort or brighten the day of others, and many other acts of kindness.

Thank you for all you do!

Wordless Wednesday

Tabby Tattletale Tuesday - Crime Wave!

 .
Kitties!  I've been robbed! 

Our safe, happy home has become a crime scene! Last night somebody stole our foodz! I noticed it when I was doing my midnight patrols. I discovered my kitten chow and the big kitties' snack buffet had been stolen! I was very, very upset. Luckily Mommy had given me a special snack of my favorite foodz around 10 PM, so I was able to make it through the night without starving. Unfortunately, I also missed breakfast the next morning, because Mommy wanted to take me to the vet's office so I could nap there all day. I'm always up for a nap, so I went along. Unfortunately, I had more things stolen while I was there. I don't even know how it happened. I was just taking a nap, and when I woke up, ...uh...um... somebody had stolen my ::whispers:: hoo-ha's!...and they ::whispers:: shaved my hiney!  What kind of sicko criminal would do that to a kitty taking a nap? I'm scared to tell my mom what happened, because I'm afraid she might be disappointed that I didn't keep better track of my, um...stuff. Hopefully, I will be able to find my stolen belongings and get them back before Mommy finds out. So kitties, if you see an ad on Craig's List or hear of someone trying to sell something that sounds like what I lost, let me know...

Word-ish Wednesday

Hi Kitties,

I'm a little bit worried. I have an appointment for a hoo-ha-ectomy at the end of the month. I didn't understand why I need to be "fixed", but now I see the problem...I'm pixelated! (Oh wait, Mommy did that to my picture so I wouldn't seem like an exhibitionist...Boy, am I relieved.)

In other news, I've been one very busy mancat-in-training. Here are some interesting facts about me:

• I am obsessed with watching Grrreta use the litterbox. I accompany her every time and sit and stare.
• I talk a lot...usually very loud with my mouth wide open and my eyes closed. Mommy says I look like a  cartoon character when I do that.
• I insist on waking Mommy every morning between 2 AM and 3 AM for snuggle time. Mommy says I'm the best snuggler ever. I jump onto her chest, collapse into a puddle, and cling to her tightly as if want to melt into her chest. I think she likes that.
• I love to crawl under the bed and climb up through the gap between the mattress and headboard between Mommy's pillows to surprise her. It works!

Wordless Wednesday - Clare-Bear

Mini-Mancat-in-Training

Hi Kitties!

I've been one very busy mancat-in-training. If you look closely at the picture below of me lying on Mommy's computer, you will see I managed to step on the exact keyboard keys needed to rotate the picture on the screen 180 degrees,...so everything was upside down! Mommy was very impressed by my computer skills. I have also been stepping on the keyboard to help her type lots of interesting search terms on our Google home page. Mommy used to think people who blamed their pets for visiting incriminating web sites were lying, but after witnessing my handiwork she is a little less judgmental of  those people.

Mommy insisted we include this picture to explain why we haven't been able to comment on our friends' blogs as much as we want. Every time I see the laptop computer open, I get sleepy and insist on napping on the keyboard.

My favorite part of having a forever home is having a big brofur. I love Ambrose very much. For the first two weeks he was afraid and wouldn't come near me, but now we are the best wrassling and chasing buddies ever. We play constantly. Mommy says I am exactly what Ambrose needed. Ambrose is very playful and energetic and needed a kitty who enjoys playing a little rough. She had considered adopting a mancat, but when I showed up on her back deck she decided it was destiny for me to be Ambose's brofur. She was concerned Ambrose might play too rough with a kitten, but he is the sweetest and gentlest big brofur ever.

Brofurly Love

Hi Kitties!

Some of you have commented that in some of our pictures, it looks like my big brofur, Ambrose,  might not love me as much as I love him. Well, here is photographic proof...just look at the expression on his face.  My big brofur definitely loves me.

Luv,
Clarence

I LOVE My Brofur

Foster FAIL

Guess who has a forever home?

Yep, the mom couldn't bring herself to even mention to anyone that Clarence needed a home. She decided that he found his way to our back deck for a reason...to be part of our family. So, we are a little ticked off very pleased to introduce the newest member of our family, Clarence!

CLARENCE:
Hi Kitties! Clarence here.
I'm very excited to have my very own forever home and to be a blogging kitteh. For my very first post, I will tell you a little about myself.

1. I was five to six weeks old when I mysteriously appeared on my new family's back deck.
2. I went to the vet and passed all my tests with flying colors. Yay!
3. I love to show off my tummy
4. I talk a LOT. A LOT.
5. I have a very impressive poofy sideways crabwalk that I do when I want to look enormous.
6.  I love to snuggle with my new mom and lick her face.
7. I love playing with my new big brofur, Ambrose. Mom says it looks like Ambrose is mopping the floor with me, but I look like I'm really enjoying it.
8. I love it when my new big sisfur Grrreta licks the top of my head.
9. I am fascinated by my new sisfurs Teddi and Chloe, but they always run away from me.
10. Did I mention that I like to show off my tummy?

Uh-Oh...the Introoder Is Still Here!

                    WARNING!

                 SQUEE ALERT!

 This post contains excessive cuteness. 

         Scroll down at your own risk.

Here are Clarence and Hello Kitty after a wrestling match. Hello Kitty is pouting because the judges deemed bunny-kicking a legal wrestling move which helped Clarence win the match.

Clarence is working very hard at learning the important skill of being a furry alarm clock. This is a big job, so he has enlisted the help of an actual alarm clock to take his shift during nap breaks.

Clarence is a quick learner. He has already learned to nap in the spot on the bed that makes it completely impossible for Mommy to get comfy in bed.

Tummy spots! I warned you...cute, cute, cute!

Thursday in the Garden...Introoder Edition

Hi Kitties!

We love visiting the blogs of the Society of Feline Gardeners every Thursday, and have been begging our mom to let us join. Well kitties, it sounds like we finally got through to her. Two weeks ago, she told us she found something very special growing in our garden. We were thrilled and insisted she take pictures of it immediately so we could do a "Thursday in the Garden" post.  She took the pictures, but said she would be too busy to post for a while. She was right about being busy. She has been "working in the garden" for days and has finally agreed to do our post. So here it is! This is the very special thing Mommy found growing in our garden.

TA DA!

 
Huh?...What the... Hey, wait a minute! What is THAT?

Mommy, you have some 'splaining to do!

Mommy:
You may remember the story we told of how our Teddi was a feral cat who had kittens in our back yard four years ago. It has been my mission since then to make sure every homeless kitty on our block is spayed or neutered, vaccinated, fed and cared for as much as they will accept. The plan has been a success so far, and my little colony of three outdoor feral cats has lived happily and kitten-free for four years. So, I was very surprised when two weeks ago while I was putting out the morning snax for the ferals that a tiny kitten ran out of the feeding station and bolted away. I looked around for him with no luck and eventually had to leave for work. I had hoped he hadn't gone far, and was relieved when I returned home from work and found he had made himself right at home in the Feral Villa on our back deck. His eyes were still mostly blue and he looked waaaaay too tiny to be away from his mom. Since he was so young, the most likely scenario is that his mamacat lived on a nearby block and was relocating her family when something happened and he got misplaced.

The picture above was taken two weeks ago, and the following picture was taken yesterday. He has grown a LOT in two weeks. 

He was wild and terrified at first, but is now completely tame. He is living in our bathroom until I can take him to the vet for a check-up tomorrow. Because we already have four cats in our family, I will try to find the perfect forever home for him. If the perfect home doesn't present itself, we will gladly welcome the little guy into our family.  We have named him "Clarence".

The Stink Eye

The stink eye / the hairy eyeball:  the look I give my mom when she is noisy and wakes me from my nap.

...and to make things worse, she always laughs at me when I make this face. If I weren't so comfy in my kitty bed, and full from my dinner of Stinky Goodness, and relaxed from all the brushing, petting and scritches, I would definitely give her the back of disrespect.

Happy Mother's Day!

Birthday Celebration !

Hi Kitties!

Today is the day we celebrate our birthdays.  Grrreta was gotcha'd in April six years ago. Teddi, then a feral momma-cat, started stopping by for dinner in early May four years ago, and Ambrose and Chloe were born feral kittens in early May four years ago. We invite you to help us celebrate our special day and join our party, but first our Mommy has something to say:

I want to thank our dear blogging friends for visiting us despite our infrequent posts and commenting. Over the last couple of years my job has become far more demanding of my time than a job should, leaving little time for blogging. Although we usually don't have enough time to comment on the blogs we visit, we rarely miss a day of reading our friends' blogs. We feel very fortunate to have the found the Cat Blogosphere, the most amazing group of people and furries who truly make the world a better place in so many ways. We feel truly privileged that you share your adventures with us. Every one of your posts is an expression of the joy of having furry family members. We thank you for sharing that with us.

Now, let the party begin!

We have chick-hen, ham, nip, meowgaritas, niptinis and real live dead shrimp! Everyfurry dig in! For entertainment, we have games of Thundering Herd of Elephants, Star Chaser, Da Bird, Cat Dancer, and lots of jingle balls and toy mousies to play with.

...And now our gift to you... a gratuitous tummy shot of Ambrose napping. Enjoy!

Sunday Sunpuddles

The Real Reason Mommy Hasn't Been Helping Us Blog

Ambrose has claimed the computer as his own. (Yes, that is a full-size computer...
and a super-size kitty)



















I really hope the built-in web cam wasn't turned on...

Worst Purr-fur-mance Review Ever...and a Give-Away!

UPDATE:

The winner of the Thermo-Kitty Mat is the lovely and talented Danielle of Life of a Spoiled Cat. Congratulations, Danielle!

***************************************************

Hi Kitties,

As you probably already know, it's that time of year again...annual purr-fur-mance review time for our assistant. It's not going to be pretty. Our assistant helped us post only FIFTEEN times in 2010, and we kitties had to do most of the work ourselves by walking across and sitting on the keyboard. We are very, very, very disappointed by our assistant's (lack of) purr-fur-mance last year.

 

The good news is that in a desperate effort to convince us she deserves a purr-fur-mance review that is not completely comprised of a giant frowny face drawing, our assistant is helping us give away a fabulous prize to one of our friends who stops by and leaves a comment on our blog.

We are giving away a brand new Thermo-Kitty Mat. It is a 12" x 25" electric heated kitty mat to give a lucky kitty a warm and toasty place to nap and snuggle during the cold winter months. Just leave a comment on this post (one comment per family) and make sure we have a way to contact you by email (on blogger account, in your comment, or email us your email address). We will pick the lucky winner using random.org on Monday, January 31st.

Waiting for Santa Claws

Hi Kitties!

I've done it! I've managed to make it through another year without getting caught doing anything really naughty! Since it is Christmas Eve and there are still a few more hours that Santa might be watching for naughtiness, I'm not taking any chances...I'll be here napping until I smell reindeer.

We want to thank our blogging friends for visiting and leaving comments that always brighten our day. Our secretary/mom has been working waaaaay too many hours at work, so we haven't been able to post or comment as much as we would like. Hopefully she will find more time in the new year. Even though mom is usually too exhausted after work to help us post or comment lately, we hardly ever miss a day of reading our friends' blogs and enjoying your posts. We are very thankful to have found so many fun, creative, caring, and kind friends who share their amazing adventures with us. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

Love,
Grrreta, Ambrose, Teddi, and Chloe

Wordless Wednesday - Reporting from a Remote Location

Mancat Monday