Amber Alert to find your lost pet

My Dad's new kitten "Cisco" proved to be the perfect little feline friend, much to everyone's surprise, it was a match made in Cat Heaven. With his orange stripes and apprehensive nature Cisco reminded my Dad of his favorite childhood pet "Poncho" and the two bonded as the best happily ever after tale would depict, until...Cisco didn't come home one day! What now? Needless to say, my Dad was worried sick and the entire family provided support but what services exist to locate missing pets? Especially cats with his temperament, more likely to run and hide from help instead of running to rescue. He put up flyers, called the Animal Shelter, went door to door and shook dry food in the surrounding area as suggested by one of the help lines and called his Vet for suggestions. It had been over a week with no word, no meow, nothing. You can't help but think how awful it must be for parents with missing children.

Fortunately, huge strides have been seen with the Amber Alert and although the protocol with missing children may be slightly different than with pets, the concept is the same: The sooner the better. PetAmberAlert uses this technology to help spread the word rapidly about your lost dog, cat or any type of missing pet. For example, lets say that there is a lost cat in Chicago. Alert system results in an 85% success rate if the alert goes out in the first week, a 75% success rate after two weeks, and a 65% success rate after eight weeks. PetAmberAlert has the only system combining immediate Poster, Phone and Social Media alerts with an online database where people can search lost cats and locate you and your contact information. I now have them bookmarked for future feline escapades.

Now for Cisco's amazing reunion with my Dad! About 3 weeks had elapsed since Cisco disappeared and although my Dad had all but given up on ever seeing him again he heard a faint but familiar meow in the distance while getting the paper one morning. On the other side of the creek in the back of his house he saw the outline of a cat, but this cat was gray not orange and white, could it be? He finally identified this scrawny, dirty-gray cat as his poor lost Cisco and with the help of one of the nicest condo residents that lived on the other side of the creek, Cisco was returned home, bringing joy to everyone involved. It is still a mystery where he was for all that time but after the Vet checked him out he confirmed that he was dehydrated and had lost lots of weight but was otherwise healthy. Cisco's safe return was a miracle no doubt and had we known about an Amber Alert for pets, there is no doubt that we would have used it!

Cisco now, resting comfortably in his loft, he is not planning any vacations this summer!

Fur Friendly Films for your Cat

Does your cat follow you around at times, meowing with such persistence that you are convinced that she has something important to say .....If only she could find the right words. Her water and 5 food bowls are brimming, liter box is clean, and the basket of kitty toys guaranteed to entertain even the most finicky feline personalities are starting to collect dust!

Perhaps she needs a good movie. Seriously! Results to these fur-friendly films differ - My cat is only interested in the birds, while others cat captives sit silently for an hour or more.

With more cats living indoors these days, I am convinced that they simply become a bit bored, taking up bug hunting and human harassment to pass the time. Why not try a video made for cats!? Give it a go, you just never know what that cat has on her curiosity radar.

Darlene Sabella's Smashing Magazine: 2012 THE YEAR OF POWER

Darlene Sabella's Smashing Magazine: 2012 THE YEAR OF POWER: Click here for an easy and free way to help care for those in need at The Animal Rescue Site!

MANILLA FOR DUMMIES

Thanks to Wm Rowe
Today was my bill paying day. I have everything organized on a website called Manilla.com. Basically it is like an on-line file cabinet that organizes all of your bills. It keeps your payment history and alerts you to when things are due. It is a life saver for me, because I have never really been the most organized person! You can create a free account and there is absolutely no charge for the service. On your “home page” you link your on-line accounts to the site. For example, I linked my account with cleartvbundle.com to my Manilla.com account folder. It automatically stores and saves all of the information and will e-mail me when I set it to. I made an e-mail alert for when I received the bill and one week before it is due. I don’t have any of my payments on auto-withdrawl because I like to check each statement, so knowing when they are due is clutch! I have also been able to put my cell phone, credit card, gas, electricity, and water on Manilla.com. It is a great organizational tool and the best part about it is that it is free!

Feline Agenda - A Poem

All programs are choreographed
for her delight
a field's frenzied performance
or a leaf's minuet.
A tossed calico mouse
or one circling the house
Cat never doubts her claim
to delight, for all kinetics
shape diversion in flight.
Cat glissades by day,
goes stalking by night
makes perfectly clear
that all needs are a right
and firm fixed in feline agenda.

A poem in "These Fringes of Time"

by Thelma Shaw

Finally got it

This guest post from Doris Dillon
We finally got a t1 line in my office and it is make my job so much easier. My boss has got to be the least technologically inclined person on the planet and it makes it so hard for me to get my work done. For example, he still likes to fax things a lot more than he likes to use e-mail… Have you even seen a fax machine in the last five years? You should hear my clients when I tell them I'm going to fax them something. Also, he likes to send out a lot of paper letters, which means a lot of time for me spent addressing envelopes in buying stamps. He doesn't seem to understand that we could save a lot of money by setting this correspondence out via e-mail, either he doesn't understand or he just doesn't care. I do appreciate that he's all about tradition but when it comes to doing your business the right way I think it's important to stay current so you don't fall behind.

Aging Pets and Senior Cat Care

Well, I guess it is inevitable - something all pet parents face: the thought of our precious petlings becoming sick or worse is overwhelming and unless you have had and loved a pet, the excessive vet bills, sleepless nights and down right hysteria, it may be hard to understand. "It's just an animal" I have heard on more than one occasion! And I am here to testify to you that this attachment and fear of loss is quite real, as my aging and very dear tabby cat "Baby" approaches 16, the thought of life without her seems unimaginable. Visions of her suffering are even worse however which is why I have tried to be proactive in my research and preparation for the inevitable signs of he ultimate enemy, aging.

One thing that I have learned is that as cats age, there is a slow but steady decrease in the weight of their kidneys and a loss of filtering ability. Cats are born with a certain number of filtering apparatus' in their kidneys. These filters are lost when the walls of the blood vessels that form them thicken, scar and become blocked as cats age. The most common signs that owners observe are weight loss and increased thirst, which I have indeed noticed with my tabby cat "Baby" for about 4 - 5 years now. I always try to make sure that she has plenty of water, placed strategically around the house and I also added wet food to her diet once each day. 

Although hard to face, animals like humans are not built to last forever. Like most seniors, I have noticed that Baby prefers a quiet evening in her warm bed. Not to say that she doesn't enjoy an occasional catnip craving or romp around the room, I attempt to keep her routine as consistent as possible. I keep noise to a minimum and try to make her as comfortable and happy as possible, returning the unconditional love and companionship that she has given me for all of these years.