Oct 25, 2013

Simon's Cat Halloween Special: Scary Legs

The latest Simon's Cat video once again perfectly nails how kitties act. His Halloween special is all about cats and spooky spiders... and the great hunters that they can be (or not be, in this case!).

Spiders are my least favorite bug at all, so this video is my worst nightmare!

Are your kitties the exterminators in your house? Pimp is in mine, but Moo could care less about bugs. He's the weirdest cat!


BONUS CUTE:

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Oct 24, 2013

Big Cats Like Boxes Too!

We know housecats love boxes, but what about big cats like lions and tigers and panthers? Do they have the same automatic attraction to boxes?

The fun folks at Big Cat Rescue decide to test it out and see! I'm guessing most of these are refrigerator boxes (can you imagine if you were stuck with one of these huge things in your living room for months?!), and the results is YES! Of course big cats love boxes! They are just regular purring, box-loving felines... only bigger.


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Oct 23, 2013

Sometimes When You Love Something, You Have to Let It Go (A Happy Story!)

Chances are that I'm on a plane right now as you're reading this, with my favorite parking lot kitty in a little red soft-sided carrier, comfortably nestled on a towel with familiar smells and a few toys to keep her company under the seat in front of me.

Chances are I'm breaking the airline rules and petting her while we're in the air, sticking my fingers through the top of the carrier and scratching her pretty head and telling her I love her. If I think I can get away with it, chances are that little red carrier is in my lap.

And the best one: Chances are Sweet Pea is going to have an amazing, loving, wonderfully safe life... because I'm on that plane flying her from South Florida to Pittsburgh, to meet her new forever mommy.

Sweet Pea's glamour shot in the parking lot. 
For those of you who have been reading the Cute for a while, you know how I have been feeding a bunch of parking lot kitties for years at my old office building. I love them like my very own, and Sweet Pea is my favorite kitty from the crew right now. What started out as 14 cats is now down to 3 (not counting Sweet Pea, because she's not out there anymore!), thanks to TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) and finding some of them homes.

Most of them have been too skittish to make really great inside cats, but a few of them have been very special, and Sweet Pea is one of them.

Sweet Pea's name is perfect for her. She is an absolute doll. She is a big chunker of a girl with tiny dainty feet and a tail that sticks straight up in the air, as happy as can be. She prances some when she walks, and loves to be petted (especially between her eyes and on the top of her head) and rub on you. She does the little hop, too, when she rubs. Sometimes she even hops when she's trying to get her head to your hand for a pet.

She's one of the friendliest kitties from the parking lot. I've always said if something happens to her, I'd take her in.

Well, a couple months ago, when I went to go feed the parking lot kitties, I noticed Sweet Pea's tail was straight down and puffy at the base. The next day Kelly saw she had a chunk missing from it gave her antiobitics in her food for the next couple weeks to make it didn't get infected while it healed. She was good as new after that.


Then a couple weeks later, I didn't see her one Saturday when I went to feed them. Sometimes one of them doesn't show for a day, so we don't worry too much. But then on Sunday, I called and called and no Pea. So I immediately went into "look for Pea" mode and started checking bushes, worried something had happened.

After looking for a while, I saw her peeking out at me from some of her usual bushes. I could tell something was wrong from just seeing her face.

And then she started hobbling over to me, not putting any weight on one of her back feet and clearly in pain.

That "something" that I said I'd bring her in if it happened? It looked like it happened. There was absolutely no way she could stay in a parking lot not being able to move around, but I also wasn't really in a position to bring her in my home and I had nothing like a carrier to put her in.

So I called Kelly and she came right over with a big carrier. We scooped Pea up and, since it as a Sunday, she stayed overnight with Kelly and then she took her to the vet in the morning.

Sweet Pea at Kelly's. 
The vet thought maybe a bite or something and gave her 10 days of medicine. We found her a wonderful foster home with Cutehead Leslie W. (neither Kelly or I could keep her long-term at our places) and she was off the streets and safe for now -- and we knew then and there that we needed to find her a forever home. Something was picking on her out there, and she is such a sweet girl that she's make a perfect inside kitty!

I posted on Facebook, looking for a home for my favorite parking lot kitty, but no one really came forward... and then something just clicked in my head. There is a longtime Cute reader named Carol who I for some reason thought would be the perfect match for Pea. Only a couple problems: Carol lives in Pittsburgh, and she said has said she wasn't really sure if she'd have another cat (for a couple reason, none of them being that she didn't want a cat).

This picture of Sweet Pea cracks me up. 
Carol has been a huge supporter and cheerleader of my parking lot kitties from the beginning, and the quiet home she could provide Pea, along with the benefit of not having to work and always being home for her, so she could work with her and gain her trust and make her comfortable, seemed like the perfect fit. She sends me card almost every month with coupons to use to help feed the parking lot kitties and the sweetest notes in them. Two sweet personalities, Carol and Pea... it had to be meant to be!

So I gathered my courage to make my first-ever adoption cold-call (she had no idea it was coming!) and messaged Carol with what I was thinking. And then waited.

Lunchtime for Sweet Pea and some of her buddies at the parking lot.
And a couple days later she responded, saying that she was honored that I asked her and trusted her with Pea -- and that yes, she'd love to be her mommy.

HURRAY! I couldn't have dreamed up a better match.

And so today, Sweet Pea and I are hopping on a plane to Pittsburgh. We leave bright and early in the morning, and get there in the early afternoon. I have a few hours before I catch the next flight home, so I'm grateful for time to take her to Carol's house and help settle her in and make sure she feels comfortable... and say goodbye.

I took yesterday off work and got Pea from Leslie's house to spend the day with her before we took off today. I think it just hit me that I was never going to see her again, and I just wanted to love on her some more and make sure she knows I didn't abandon her. It was one of the best days ever, and I'm so glad I did it.

Sweet Pea and I hanging out on the couch yesterday. Can you believe she was in a parking lot?!
I'm going to miss that chunky girl and deep down I know I wish I could keep her (and I think everyone else knows that too!), but I also know that I am not home enough for her. (Plus, I'm already cat over my pet limit in my condo! Shhhhh!) But I do know that she is going to be loved plenty and she is going to a great place, and that makes me happier than anything.

Sweet Pea is a rare gem of a kitty. Super special. I couldn't have written a better fairy tale ending for her than the one she is getting today.

My new favorite picture of me and Pea. Love. So much love. And trust. 
Have a wonderful life, Sweet Pea! I can't wait to hear how you settle in and get pictures and updates. And I am so happy that I don't have to worry about you in the parking lot anymore. Lucky girl!

FLY WITH ME AND PEA! I'll be posting updates about our trip on Facebook and Twitter! Follow along!

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Oct 22, 2013

Two Cats Tuesday: Being Silly with Moo and Kissy-Kissy with Pimp

Happy Two Cats Tuesday, Cuteheads! Today we have a couple collages of the boys that I don't think I've shared here before. Just us being silly and hanging out taking selfies. You know, the usual.

Also, make sure you come back tomorrow. It's a BIG day around here and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

You see? Everyone wonders how I got so silly. I got it from my MOM!
I don't always let people smooch me, but when I do, I make sure it's mom.
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Oct 21, 2013

Sloth Playing an Invisible Piano

Oh nothing to see here... just a silly sloth tinkering away on an invisible piano.

I'm honestly a little disappointed in the other sloths in his "band." Seems like one of them could have at least kicked in with a sweet air guitar riff or two.


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