Most of us have encountered this hide-and-seek game when it's time for a trip to the vet. How do our babies *know* when we work so hard to trick them? :)

I had another use for my carrier on Friday. We had quite the adventure here.

Friday morning, after a killer week at school, I was awake kinda early, so I decided just to get up and maybe finally get to read my morning papers online. I have been seriously out of the news loop since school started simply because I've had no time for reading or watching news. I fed my inside kitties, and then, as I opened the door to feed outside kitties, one of them ~ Deuce's littermate ~ jumped over my foot and got inside.

The poor little guy was terrified and went ripping through the house ~ and I mean *ripping* ~ tearing up things in his path mostly in the bathroom and bedroom, where he went up the curtains, down the curtains, and up the curtains again to perch atop them ~ howling and knocking down my pink-rose garland there along with a wall-hanging that had belonged to my mama.

After sharing a bed with six kitties overnight, I am wheezy on a good day, but after chasing this kitty, I was *really* gasping, and my attempts to calm him down weren't working very well. I must have sounded like a wheezy monster to the little guy.

I finally got him off the curtains, and then he ran to my office and hid in a corner, underneath a cabinet. As much as I *HATED* to bother her at 5:15 in the morning, I had to call neighbor Elly for help. I had to get ready for school soon, and with my arthritic back, I knew I could never get down on the floor and get both the kitty and me up again if I happened to catch him.

Bless her heart, Elly came right over. We hoped to lure him into a carrier baited with some canned kitty food, but he didn't budge. After about 15 minutes of futile waiting, I decided a more active approach was needed. I lay on the floor, reached under the cabinet *carefully,* and scruffed him. He wasn't happy, but with the scruffing, I didn't get scratched.

Elly held the carrier tipped up so that I could drop him inside, and then she let him out outside. He was *VERY* happy to be outside again. My own fuzzy half dozen were amazingly calm throughout the whole ordeal though Deuce showed no signs of remembering his littermate ~ and vice versa. However, I was a mess.

At least our adventure happened on a Friday, not a Monday! :) After school, I took Elly out for her favorite, Chinese, to say thanks. I'd still be lying on the floor with the kitty huddled in the corner without her help.

This morning I kicked the door before I opened it so that any kitties gathered there would scoot back a bit. I didn't have to worry about Friday's kitten. He watched from a distance until the food was in place. :)

Have you missed me? I'm guessing posts will be fewer now that school has begun, but I will surely try for at least once a week. And I will rely heavily on the kindness of others, too ~ meaning I will use that wonderful copy-and-paste feature on my computer.

First, though, I will share with you that we have late-summer kittens in the neighborhood. One stray had a litter over by Elly's in some unknown location, and another stray had hers literally by my back stoop. I saw them when I was carrying in groceries Saturday. She kept them there overnight and then moved them to a more secure location this morning ~ thanks be to God because I was a frazzled mess trying to keep watch over them in their fairly exposed location. She had four, but one didn't survive. Five dead kittens in one summer is a little hard on the emotions, but I managed. We definitely didn't need more kittens in the neighborhood, but I don't want to decrease their population through death.

Now for the *borrowed* part of this post. I subscribe to a daily kitty newsletter from a wonderful place called PetPlace.com. Today's e-mail included recipes for homemade kitty treats. *I* will certainly give Julia Child no competition, but I thought maybe some of you with more culinary expertise would like to try them:

The pet stores are full of cat treats. But did you know that you can make your own healthy kitty treats at home? Here are some recipes to help you find a way to your cat's heart:

Savory Cheese Treats

* 3/4 cup white flour
* 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
* 5 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

# 1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
# 1/4 cup cornmeal

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine cheeses and yogurt. Add flour and cornmeal. If needed, add a small amount of water to create a nice dough. Knead dough into a ball and roll to 1/4 inch. Cut into one inch sized pieces and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Chick N'Biscuits

* 1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/3 cup cornmeal
* 1 tablespoon soft margarine

Preheat the over to 350 F. # Combine chicken, broth and margarine and blend well. Add flour and cornmeal. Knead dough into a ball and roll to 1/4 inch. Cut into one-inch sized pieces and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 18 cookies.

Crispy Liver Morsels

* 1/2 cup cooked chicken livers
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/4 cup cooked carrot, mashed
* 1 tablespoon soft margarine

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Place well-done livers in a blender with 1/4 cup water. In a bowl, combine flour and margarine. Add liver mixture and carrots and knead dough into a ball. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut into one-inch sized pieces. Place cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 325 F for 10 minutes. Makes 12 cookies.

Tuna Tidbits

* 6 ounce can of tuna
* 1/4 cup water drained from tuna
* 3 T cooked egg white, chopped
* 1/4 cup cornmeal
* 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine tuna, egg white and water. Add cornmeal and flour and blend to form a dough. Knead into a ball and roll to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into one-inch sized pieces. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. Makes 12 cookies.

Happy cooking!

[The image at the top of this post was borrowed from Whimsy of Andrea.]

This poster released by the Michigan Humane Society shows the poster for 'Catfax' which allows would be owners to get the history of their 'new' cat before they adopt. (AP Photo/Michigan Humane Society ~ Courtesy Yahoo News)

Check into the Michigan Humane Society Web site for further details. :)

Are you planning a trip to Lithuania in what is left of your summer? Well, have I got the site for you see when you are there: the Cats Museum!

Founded in 1990 at Young Naturalist’s Centre, the museum was established by Vanda Kavaliauslkiene, who was collecting exhibits for the museum many years. The first exhibit, a little black wooden cat, came from Poland in 1962. Visitors are greeted by cats in stained glass, on stair handrails, on the lamps, and in over 10,000 other exhibits there.

Here visitors can get acquainted with cats, their breeds, and their character features. The museum features exhibits from many countries throughout the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, China, Portugal and Taiwan. Miniatures of both male and female cats are created from porcelain, glass, amber, marble, crystal, and other media.

Children's pictures, artistic photographs, works of professional painters, and other items are also presented in the expositions. Visitors are greeted by a beloved cat, Mikis, who is considered to be the head of the museum.

You can e-mail the museum at jgs@splius.lt.

Your bonus post! You can probably guess why this appealed to me! :)

This kitten rescue story was in today's Post-Dispatch:

Kittens Survive Truck Crushing in Alaska
By Rindi White
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Thursday, Aug. 13 2009
WASILLA, Alaska — Two tiny kittens owe their lives to a rescue by a couple of seasoned “junkyard dogs.”

The pair is a little smudged but otherwise unharmed after the nest of shredded paper their mother made for them under a pickup seat was smashed by a car crusher over the weekend.

Gary Jacobsen, 10-year owner of Alaska Car Crushing of Wasilla, said the kittens were a pretty lucky pair. They’ve been named Crush and Smash as a reminder of their ordeal.

“It’s unbelievable they’re alive. They were the luckiest cats in the world the other day,” Jacobsen said.

The kittens were living in a brownish-purple 1970s-era GMC crew cab pickup. Jacobsen said the truck had been at the yard a while, maybe a couple of years. He said he thinks the mother cat likely moved the other kittens out of the nest but may have been interrupted before retrieving this pair.

A worker checked the truck before it was loaded into the crusher, he said, but the kittens were under a back seat, in an area that was difficult to see.

The truck was put through the crusher Aug. 1, then stacked on a flatbed trailer — the bottom-most in a stack of nine vehicles — and strapped down to be hauled to Schnitzer Steel in Anchorage for shredding, Jacobsen said.

On Monday, Aug. 3, Jacobsen’s brother Jeff Pruitt heard a “mew” while standing beside the loaded vehicles. Thinking it might be a toy, the men listened for another sound for more than 10 minutes. Amid all the engine noise from running machinery at the business, the “mew” was inaudible.

Jacobsen said they turned all the equipment off, then heard the sound again. Workers at the plant spent about an hour unloading the vehicles stacked on top of the truck and ripping the roof off. After a lot of prying — and a little
ribbing — they found the kittens’ nest under the seat.

“It was quite an ordeal,” Jacobsen said. “A couple guys came into the yard and said, ’What are you doing?’ (I said,) ’There’s a cat in there.’ ’Well, it’s just a cat,’ they said.”

Jacobsen said the kittens survived the weekend imprisoned in metal without food or drink. But they weren’t likely to have been as lucky at the metal recycling plant, where the pickup would have been crushed between rollers and shredded with a hammer mill.

“It’s the right thing to do — we didn’t really even have a choice,” Jacobsen said.

Asked how the cats survived the brutal strength of the crusher, he said a well-placed tire — an item usually removed before crushing — kept the cab area from being completely crushed.

Crush and Smash have been adopted by Shirah Roth at Schnitzer Steel in Anchorage. Roth said she and her daughter are keeping the unweaned kittens fed with milk around the clock.

I have only a *Kitty Bit* for you today. With school starting in one week, I have many, many things needing my attention right now. However, I wanted to pass along news about Walgreens' Prescription Savings Club, which will provide *significant savings* for you and your family when you buy prescription medications. I am mentioning it here because Walgreens includes *PETS* in your family. :) Lots of kitty kisses to Walgreens!

Please note that this is a club, not an insurance. Here is more information from Walgreens:

If you live in the United States or Puerto Rico and are not enrolled in a publicly funded health care program, such as Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE, you are eligible for the Prescription Savings Club. Children under the age of 18 can be enrolled by a parent or guardian.

Enrollment for an individual is $20 per year or $35 for an entire family. Family enrollment includes spouse, dependents under the age of 23 and pets. Additional adult family members living in the same household, such as a parent or grandparent, will be issued their own card at the individual rate.

In this program, some meds are as little as $12 for a 90-day supply, so membership could be a good investment for you. Check it out! :)

[My thanks to my friend Emmie for giving me a heads-up about this program!]

Neighbor Elly's Roadie is 15 this year. Like most people, Elly was figuring that each kitty year equals seven years, the same conversion rate as dogs have. However, kitties have a whole different scale. Consequently, instead of being 105, Roadie is actually a youthful 76. I found this chart and information at the site for the Tally Oaks Vet Service:

A popular misconception is that cats age seven years for each calendar year. In fact, feline aging is much more rapid during the first two years of life. A cat reaches the approximate human age of 15 during its first year, then 24 at age 2. Each year thereafter, it ages approximately four "cat years" for every calendar year. Thus, a 5-year-old feline would be approximately 36 in cat years. It should be remembered that a cat who lives outdoors ages far more quickly, perhaps even twice as fast, than an indoor cat.



[Birthday kitty photo courtesy of Funny Underline.]

When all else fails, blame the cat. Good grief!

From Yahoo News:

Fla. Man Blames Cat Paws for Child Porn Downloads
Fri Aug 7, 8:29 pm ET

JENSEN BEACH, Fla. – Florida investigators say a man accused of downloading child pornography is blaming his cat. Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach is charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after detectives found more than 1,000 images on his home computer.

According to a sheriff's report Friday, Griffin told investigators that his cat jumped on the computer keyboard while he was downloading music. He said he had left the room and found "strange things" on his computer when he returned.

Griffin is being held on $250,000 bond in the Martin County jail. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

My opinion is that someone needs to be neutered with a cheese grater ~ and I'm *not* talking about the poor kitty!

[Photo courtesy of Ecohaven.]

I cannot abide cruelty of any kind, but it's especially heinous against those who depend on us for their care ~ like children and animals. As you know already, I am a big proponent of animal rescue organizations. But how wonderful it would be if the need for these organizations was reduced to natural-disaster situations rather than the consequences of cruelty or neglect of animals.

As a teacher, I know that nipping negative behavior in the bud, so to speak, is a wise strategy. Consequently, I was pleased to read the following article in today's Post-Dispatch:

Pet-Focused Reading Program Aims to Prevent Cruelty
By LINDA LOMBARDI
FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, Aug. 06 2009
WHEATON, Md. -- "I have no use for a cat." That's what Mrs. Crump says when the golden cat shows up on her porch and slips in the door. And when she thinks about letting the cat out, one child in Natalie Nelson's kindergarten class
can't help but interrupt.

"That's not a nice thing to do! You can't tell a cat to shoo, because they like you," the student calls out.

It's not a bad summary of one of the lessons of "Mrs. Crump's Cat," the book that humane educator BJ Altschul is reading to the class.

Altschul's visit to Arcola Elementary is part of the Humane Education Ambassador Readers program, which brings volunteers into schools to lead activities based on a carefully selected list of picture books about people and animals. The goal is to help children develop the empathy for other creatures that prevents animal cruelty and promotes responsible care of pets.

Each book is chosen partly because it helps children understand something about the meaning of a pet's sounds, tail-wagging and other body language. These basic lessons in animal behavior are important because many of the children involved in the program have no pets, and their only experiences of animals may be fearful ones.

"If they're not raised around animals, they may not understand how you can listen to an animal," says Nicole Forsyth of United Animal Nations, which developed the program.

In the book read to Nelson's class, Mrs. Crump warms to the cat, letting it dry off by the fire. And when it won't eat bread, she goes to the store to buy it some cream... and then a bowl, and flea soap, and a pretty collar.

After the reading, a few students are chosen to act out the story, and the class puts what they've learned about cat communication into action. When the child playing the cat would rather stay with Mrs. Crump than be let loose, Altschul asks the whole room, "How would you let her know that? What kinds of sounds would you make?" The class breaks out in a loud purr.

The mission of United Animal Nations is to take animals out of crisis situations such as natural disasters, but President and CEO Forsyth says they found themselves dealing with more cruelty cases, such as puppy mill rescues. Rather than simply react to these situations, they wanted to get involved in prevention by teaching humane attitudes towards animals from an early age.

The Humane Education Ambassador Readers program is designed so that it can be implemented on a local level by trained volunteers, which is important since few animal welfare organizations have the resources for a large dedicated humane education staff. And it is structured to fit in with specific curriculum standards for different states.

Teacher Heather Bracken of Hazel Strauch Elementary School in Sacramento, Calif., has had humane reading volunteers in her third grade class for the past two years. Bracken says that in her inner-city school, the program is important because it may be the first experience her students have of the idea of "an animal as part of the family."

But a big reason that it works is that it does double duty:

"They come in with documentation of how it fits into the standards," she says. "It makes it easy for a teacher to get approval from her administrator."

Having been successful incorporating the program into curriculum standards in Sacramento, Calif., Washington, D.C., and British Columbia, the group is now gearing up to expand to other cities.

Although it's too soon to judge the long-term effectiveness of the program, Bracken says that some results were clear in how her students talked to her after the visits, such as expressing concern for stray animals.

And she says that none of the parents complained when they got the inevitable requests for pets, because the students knew the effort that would be involved.

The program "taught the children the sense of joy of having an animal, and also the responsibility that goes along with it," she says. "They go home and educate their parents, too."
___

Pets columnist Linda Lombardi can be reached at creaturewriter@gmail.com

* * *
Rest in peace, Sam the Koala. She was the koala that survived the massive fires in Australia back in February and then became famous through the picture shown here. Sam was euthanized during surgery when doctors determined that her cystic disease was inoperable. Those who cared for Sam at the animal shelter as well as the firefighter who shared his water with her are devastated. I feel just as I did when I read that Barbaro had to be put down, too. :( Is it being soft-hearted or soft-headed to feel so deeply for animals you've never met?

I love both puppies and kitties ~ with a slight edge to kitties simply because that's what my lifestyle has allowed over the years. However, I know that there are definite *Cat People* and *Dog People* out there. For those of you needing some guidance on the difference between cats and dogs, here is an explanation by way of PetPlace.com:

PET DIARIES...

From a Dog's Daily Diary:

8:00 am
Oh Boy! Dog Food! My favorite!

9:30 am
Oh Boy! A Car Ride! My Favorite!

9:40 am
Oh Boy! A Walk! My Favorite!

10:00am
Oh Boy! Getting petted! My favorite!

11:30 am
Oh Boy! Dog Food! My Favorite!

Noon
Oh Boy! The Kids! My Favorite!

1:00 pm
Oh Boy! The Yard! My Favorite!

4:00 pm
Oh Boy! To the Park! My Favorite!

5:00 pm
Oh Boy! Dog Food! My Favorite!

5:30 pm
Oh Boy! Pretty Mums! My Favorite!

6:00 pm
Oh Boy! Playing Ball! My Favorite!

6:30 pm
Oh Boy! Watching TV with my Master! My Favorite!

8:30 pm
Oh Boy! Sleeping in Master's Bed! My Favorite!

From a Cat's Daily Diary:

Day 483 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh food while I am forced to eat dry cereal.

The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape and the mild scolding I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.

Today my attempt to kill my captors by rubbing around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded; must try this at the top of the stairs.

In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair; must try this on their bed.

Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was.

Hmmmm, not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary confinement throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell of food. More importantly, I overheard that my confinement was due to my power of "allergies". I must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit.

The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant. He speaks with them regularly, and I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured.

But I can wait; it is only a matter of time.

Disclaimer: Many of these articles were submitted by PetPlace.com dog lovers and the original source is unknown in terms of origin, author or copyright. It is not our intent to infringe on anyone's copyright and if it is done, it is done unknowingly and we would be happy to remove the offending content. Just email us.

[Photo courtesy of Riverside Cards and Balloons.]

Yet Another Doting Mommy Alert! :)

I took some pictures of the *Terrible Two* as they are settling down for a nap. As you can see, Trey is thrilled to pieces about receiving a bath from his bubby. They are growing up much too fast. I have threatened to stop feeding them so that they will stop growing. :) Like that would really happen! They eat better than I do 'cause I will eat generic, and they won't! :)

[Hey, Melinda! Notice the pink-rose tissues in the bottom corner of my desk organizer. I still have them! :) You just can't put boogies and snot on pink-rose tissues! :)]

Yesterday you met Nora, the piano kitty. Today you get to meet Casper, the bus kitty. Known in England as the *Commuter Cat,* Casper lines up with other boarding passengers before taking his place on a seat for his ride.

The BBC Web site has a Casper video, along with this story:

Commuter Cat Is Star of Bus Route

A cat has become such a well-known user of a Devon bus service that its drivers know where to let him off.

Casper has been queuing with other passengers to get the number three service from his home in Plymouth for months, bus company First said.

It added that he often sat in the queue and then quietly padded on board and curled up on a seat for the ride.

Casper's owner Susan Finden, 55, who picked him from a rescue home in 2002, said he had always been a free spirit.

Mrs Finden said she named her pet after Casper the Friendly Ghost, as he has a habit of wandering off.

A spokesman for First said that drivers had been bussing Casper around for months, but Mrs Finden said she had only just found out about his use of public transport.

The care worker said: "He'd always go off and have a wander.

"Once I had to walk a mile-and-a-half with a cat basket to bring him back from a car park.

"He does love people, and I don't know what the attraction is but he loves big vehicles like lorries and buses."

A notice has been put up by First in the bus drivers' rest room in Plymouth bus station asking them to look after the rogue passenger if they spot him sneaking on board.

Another article mentioned that Casper has a preference for First buses over Citybuses, and he has become such a celebrity that some First-bus passengers use his picture on their computer desktops.

First-bus officials have no plans to collect retroactive fares from Casper. At 12 years old, in kitty years he would be classified as an *OAP* and get a free bus pass anyway. :)

[My thanks to my friend Stephen for sending me links to Casper.]

I want to introduce you to Nora, the piano-playing kitty. Nora has mew-sic in her heart and an orchestra to accompany her. :) Move over, Susan Boyles, because Nora has become a You Tube sensation, too, with over 2.5 million fans tuning in. So kick back and listen to Nora's Cat-certo! Okay, so maybe she isn't Vladimir Horowitz, but she can play better than I can! :) And all this time I thought kitties preferred *strings*??? :) Janet, maybe she can join you and John some time for a piano party? :) [The downloadable photo I found is apparently one of Nora in her more formative years. You can find links to two of Nora's earlier videos at this same Web page.]

Speaking of formative years, my baby boys are famous now. Deuce and Trey were just chosen to be Kitties of the Week in the EdHat Santa Barbara e-zine! Their favorite bubby, Joey, was a Kitty of the Week himself for Halloween 2006. :) Thanks to their Auntie Em for sharing the e-mail and link with me! :)