In an earlier post, I told you about a Web site, freekibblekat, that offered opportunities for us to provide free kibble to shelter animals.

Here is another one: The Animal Rescue Site.

Their Mission Statement

The Animal Rescue Site focuses the power of the Internet on a specific need — providing food for some of the 27 million unwanted animals given to shelters in the U.S. every year. Over 10 million animals are put to death every year in the U.S. alone because they are abandoned and unwanted.

Each click on the purple "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button at The Animal Rescue Site provides food and care for a rescued animal living in a shelter or sanctuary. Funding for food and care is paid by site sponsors and distributed to animals in need at the Fund for Animals' renowned animal sanctuaries (including Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Texas and the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in California), pet shelters supported by the Petfinder Foundation , North Shore Animal League , and other worthy animal care facilities supported by the GreaterGood.org foundation.

100% of sponsor advertising fees goes to our charitable partners.

How You Can Help In Mere Seconds — Every Day

The Animal Rescue Site provides a feel-good way to help promote awareness and prevent rescued animal deaths every day — through easy and quick online activities.

Please remember to click every day to give help and hope to those most in need. Every click counts in the life of a rescued animal.

You Can Help Even More

In addition to clicking the purple "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button, visitors can help more by shopping in The Animal Rescue Site store . With each item purchased, shoppers generate funds for the feeding and care of animals in shelters and sanctuaries. The store offers a wide array of items to show your support.

So here is another site that I hope you will bookmark and visit daily! Thanks! :)

[Personal Note: My condolences and prayers to the family of Kelly Jo Cain, who was found burned to death in a pickup truck in White County. Kelly was a former student, and I cannot imagine anything more horrible for her and her loved ones. Hold your loved ones close each and every day, for some day will be your last chance to say, *I love you.*]

A message worth passing along for the sake of *ALL* pets!

This isn't my kitty. Her name is Roadie, and she owns neighbor Elly. Roadie and Elly have been together 16 years since Elly found her as an injured kitten that someone had thrown beneath a bridge. Roadie had bounced off the concrete, but fortunately survived to have her happy ending. She had some damage to her back legs and still walks like a coon, but she's a happy, healthy coon. :)

Yesterday I rode shotgun when Roadie had her annual trip to her vet in Flora ~ a wonderful lady named Dr. Deb, who saved the life of my third kitty, Elly Fae, in 2004. The clinic was in a bit of chaos yesterday because of a power outage, but the vets and staff were soldiering on and Roadie got her check-up and allergy shot.

Yep, poor Roadie is allergic ~ to flea meds like Advantage ~ so each season when she gets dosed for fleas, she also has to be dosed for a reaction to the med. This kind of allergy, called a *contact allergy,* is not that uncommon in kitties. Last summer, my own ~ my oldest ~ Melanie had a *seriously* negative reaction to a new flea med called ProMeris. Trying to save money since I have so many kitties, this summer I tried flea collars, but they were so potent that *I* had an allergic reaction to them. Usually for contact allergies, you just have to remove the irritant. In Melanie's case, I had to give her a bath with Dawn dish detergent. Sometimes the irritant isn't chemical. It can be something like fabric used in bedding.

The fleas themselves can cause allergies of their own. Again, I have a personal example because my second oldest, Chelsie, has this problem. Good ol' flea spit caused severe itching to the point that Chelsie was scratching herself hard enough to leave scabs and biting and licking her fur enough to leave bald spots. Consequently, each flea season, April to December, I try to be vigilant to nip any flea problems in the bud. I have learned to stick with Advantage despite the cost. It gets the job done without being so toxic that my kitties can't handle it. Last year Chelsie had to have a series of allergy shots to get her straightened out.


Like their purrsons, kitties can also have food allergies. Melanie can't eat ocean whitefish at all. She likes it well enough, but within minutes she hacks it up onto the carpeting. Elly's Roamer responded the same way to salmon. I can't offer mine too much variety because Melanie responds with digestive problems if I deviate from what she's used to. On the other hand, some allergies do arise from foods that kitties have eaten for a while ~ a reaction to the protein component of the food. Sometimes a simple change in diet ~ to a hypoallergenic diet ~ will help. Sometimes allergic responses to food involve respiratory and/or itching problems, too, so your vet will have to become involved.

The fourth kind of kitty allergy is an inhalant type. The same things that can bother us can bother our kitties. However, where we may respond by sneezing, kitties may respond with serious itching. Treatments can involve everything from hypoallergenic shampoos to allergy shots to desensitizing treatments.

A helpful article from Pawprints and Purrs, Inc., will give you additional information on all these kinds of allergies. However, I wish an itchless future for you and your furry loved ones. :)

[A personal note: In the right column, you may notice some links to certain shopping-for-pets sites. I am affiliated with these sites and earn pennies if you browse or shop there. Please click my links if you need something? Thanks!]

*Scruffing* is the topic for today, as per the suggestion of my close personal friend, Emmie Jean. :)

One of my vets explained the process to me last week when he was clipping Deuce's toesies, but I also did some supplemental research online before mentioning scruffing here.

A scruff is the loose skin on the back of an animal's neck ~ any animal, though I will be focusing on kitties since I am the Crazy Cat Lady, after all. :)

Scruffing is *GENTLY* pinching or gathering this skin between your fingers and lifting. As Dr. Bailey explained it to me, it is used for calming or desensitizing your pet. However, my online reading also mentioned using it as a training technique and/or a method of establishing dominance.

You really don't want to use it as a means of exerting your dominance because all kinds of behavioral or emotional problems can arise. You don't want your kitty to be afraid of you or to become aggressive either to defend himself or exert HIS dominance, right?


As a training technique, scruffing should be saved for the especially bad no-no behaviors. Again, *GENTLY* scruff your kitty and press him to the floor ~ *NOT* roughly ~ as you either hiss like his mama or firmly say the word, *NO!* Hold the kitty against the floor until you feel him relax. Speak to him softly then and pick him up for cuddling so that he knows that love will not be withheld because he's been a bad kitty.

Do not, do not, *DO NOT* lift your kitty by his scruff. Kittens might not be affected so much since they are not so far removed from being held and carried that way by their mamas. However, older kitties could be hurt or injured if you don't support their body weight as you lift.

What Dr. Bailey and I discussed was simply using scruffing to soothe a kitty for something like claw clipping ~ or administering medicine. By first massaging the scruff, you will release endorphins that will tranquilize your kitty. Older kitties who have not been scruffed since kittenhood may not be affected. Dr. Bailey said regularly massaging a kitty's scruff will keep his system responsive to the process.

After you have massaged the scruff, then you may *GENTLY* pinch the scruff and tug or pull up on the kitty ~ again remembering not to lift a kitty entirely by his scruff.

I *KNOW* this calming technique works because I used it on my older kitties, Joey and Elly Fae, when I had to apply their Advantage. Previously, both of them had fought me like wildcats at Advantage time ~ to the point that I had to call neighbor Elly for back-up. Using Dr. Bailey's suggestion, I was amazed by how miraculously easy applying Advantage on both of them was this time. Joey is 20 pounds of kitty muscle, and I had no struggle with him at all. Elly Fae may be the smallest of my adult kitties, but she is also the alpha kitty in this household, inclined to being a bit of a you-know-what about things that don't please her. The most resistance I had from her was the faintest little prolonged growl as I administered the Advantage ~ but, again, no struggling!



In fact, since then, Elly Fae has been especially loving and cuddly. When she is on my lap now, I will massage her scruff and tug ever-so-gently on it. She purrs all the more deeply and looks at me with dilated, half-closed eyes. I think I may have an endorphin junky on my hands! :) So long as she is a happy kitty, I don't guess it matters so much, huh? We can't have the Terrible Two harshing her mellow. :)

[The first two pictures in this post were borrowed from HelpWithPetTraining.com. The third picture is of my tranquil baby girl, Elly Fae. :)]

Except for the summers when I lost my daddy and mama, this summer has been the worst and most disappointing ever. I won't bore you with the reasons why, but I will tell you that having the Terrible Two around in addition to their big-kitty siblings has been the salvation of my summer.

No matter how dismal and worrisome things have gotten, I find tremendous joy in watching my fuzzy family play and romp and interact. And when I need a hug or some loving, I don't have to look too far before I have a lapful of furry, purring affection.

I realize that I have reached my limit of kitties now. When my friend Patty has accused me of being a kitty hoarder, I have always said that a person isn't hoarding so long as she can afford to care for the kitties that she has. Well, I have reached that limit ~ my budget has stretched as far as it can go with six kitties now. However, I had planned to stop two kitties ago. I'm glad I didn't. Though the Terrible Two have required more attention, care, and expense than most new kittens, I wouldn't trade either of them for a bajillion dollars now.

One of my friends has also been coping with blues wrought by a crappy summer and even crappier economy. She and her husband already have two pampered kitties, and I recommended to her what I am recommending to you now: Visit your local animal shelter and adopt another kitty or two ~ or a dog if that is your preference. Shelters are bursting at the seams now because so many people are surrendering pets because of money problems. However, my thought is to open your pocketbook and your heart a little wider to bring another pet or two into your household. *Love* is the most powerful force in the universe, and goodness knows we need as much of it we can get. I can guarantee that watching your pet play and receiving his/her expressions of love will do more to perk up this dismal time in our history than all the other therapy in the world.

Your new addition doesn't have to be a kitten or puppy if you're not into that intensive training thing. Older kitties and puppies need love, too.

Give what I'm saying some thought, okay? My animal rescues happened to be in my own back yard, but you will probably need to make the trip to a local animal shelter. Many animal shelters will help you with costs of shots or neutering as part of the deal for your taking home a new loved one.

Then send me pictures and your pets' stories, and I will post them here.

We may not have much money these days, but we always have love to give, right? And it's an investment that will *always* give you huge dividends in return. :)