Feb 14, 2014

New Simon's Cat "Smitten" Valentine's Day Cartoon!

Happy Valentine's Day, Cuteheads! Here's an adorable little video to celebrate today -- a new Simon's cat cartoon... where the girl kitty is acting, well, just like a cat.

Hope you all have a purrfect day surrounded by the love of others and your pets!


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Feb 13, 2014

I Don't Know If It's Three Cats Thursday.

Before you jump to comment (I know what you all think!), just read me out.

I love Phantom. He is quite possibly the best cat ever... and I have two amazing cats! But Phantom is special. This boy is the sweetest, most innocent and adorable and angelic thing ever. Who knows what happened to him in his life, but he just still loves everything.

He chirps and loves and follows me around like a puppy. He's so soft. His eyes are so gorgeous. His personality will just melt you.

Phantom wasn't sure about this picture.
But I've been doing a lot of thinking lately (sometimes I over-think, I get that from my dad) and I'm just not sure that Phantom is the third cat I never wanted. I feel like maybe I'm just trying to replace Sweet Pea.

Sweet Pea was my third cat. I knew that with everything I had. There was no question. What I felt for her I'm not sure I'll feel about any kitty again.

And, unfortunately, Phantom is not Pea.

I love him. I just don't know if he's truly my third cat. You know what I mean? I hope this is making sense.

All sassy-like after his first bath. 
I was reading through old posts from when we lost Pea, and she was just so special. I resisted a third cat for so many years. So many. Sweet Pea was the only one who could change my mind, and even she almost didn't.

And now we have Phantom here. Moo doesn't like him, and Pimp is usually indifferent, but sometimes hisses. Phantom wants all the love in the world, and literally throws temper tantrums when he's not getting it. It's absurdly adorable. He breaks my heart.

But I'm not sure if he breaks it enough to be my third cat.

I'm so torn. And at this point, I couldn't just adopt him to just anyone. It would have to be someone I know and trust with what could very easily be my own child. He'd love anything and everything, I'm sure -- cats, dogs, people, kids.

Melt. 
He is amazing. I truly think he should be a therapy cat. (I looked into it!) He should be sitting on hospital beds with children in pediatric care units and with elderly folks in nursing homes. He could bring joy and peace to any place, and he'd sit on a lap and purr for hours without complaint or want to move.

But I'm just not sure he's mine.

No clue what to do. :(

P.S. His leg is so much better! Still swagger, but he's walking on his foot just fine!

Here are Pimp, Moo and Phantom all kind of playing with one toy.


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Feb 12, 2014

It Takes a Village: The Story of One Old Cat

Yesterday, while scrolling through Facebook, I came across a story that moved me so much that I immediately moved into action. My friend, Chris, had been at the shelter when an old man was surrendering his old cat, and the scene was something she just couldn't shake. It was so sad and so touching.

She was picking up a foster dog at the time and had her hands full, but she shared it on Facebook, where I saw it. I'm not sure I even got halfway through before I myself was in tears, ready to move mountains and leap buildings to help this cat.

After reading her post and doing some digging, I posted this below on my personal Facebook page -- and the response was overwhelming and amazing.

Here is what I posted:

Yesterday, a friend of mine was at the Palm Beach shelter picking up a foster dog when she saw an elderly man surrendering his cat. Her name was Gwen, he told them, and is between 10-13 years old and black. The poor, sweet man had even brought her a bag of dry food and three cans of wet food. My friend said he didn't seem like he could afford much, so this was probably everything in the world he could do for the old girl. It was like he was dropping her off for boarding, she said. He probably thought she'd be safe.

My friend, Chris Dominick, couldn't shake what she'd seen, but couldn't take the cat then. So she went to the Urgent Cats of Palm Beach County page and posted what she saw, hoping the old cat could be identified, and someone might be able to help her.

I read her post as was just as torn apart as she was. So I picked up the phone and called the shelter, trying to find Gwen. She wasn't listed on any of their websites, so I was hoping she was just not put up yet.

They first told me it would be nearly impossible to track her down with what little we knew. They get like 50 animals a day, and surrender times aren't listed. She'd have to go through them one by one... I told her the story, and she started to melt and told me to hold on.

When she came back on the phone, she was already combing through intake records -- and we found Gwen! There was just one problem: Her notes said that she was friendly when she was first taken out of her carrier, but hissed and swatted at the vet when they tried to draw blood to process her (of course she did; it's a loud scary shelter!), and so because of that and her "geriatric" age, she could not go into the adoption program.

Basically, she'd be put down that night if I hadn't called. We reached them with maybe 30 minutes to spare.

She asked if I was interested in adopting her, and that if I was they could put a note in her file and keep her for ONE more day, max. I told her that I wanted to work to rescue her, and that if they gave me that day, I could make it happen.

And so my name is in her file now. And Gwen has until they close tomorrow, 2/12/14, to have a plan.

Can anyone adopt her? We can transport!

If not, can anyone local (Broward County, ideally) foster her for a few weeks while we work it out?

We can't let Gwen down. As many cats as we help, I rarely pick up the phone to call the shelter about them. But her story just moved me to tears and shattered me.

Can we please save her? Share far and wide!

She is at Palm Beach Animal Control. Her ID # is 1719429. We can transport her to a good home.

That old man thought he was doing what was best for his Gwen... Let's make it come true, shall we?


This is the picture of Gwen the shelter emailed me after I called.
Within an hour, there were nearly 100 shares and the most heart-warming comments. Bottom line: Gwen has a local foster (think you Cutehead Kyle S.) and hopefully an adopter and/or rescue backup.

I emailed the shelter to let them know, and if all goes according to plan, we should be able to get her out safe today! I will post when she is out for sure!

All paws crossed for Gwen until she's officially busted out, OK? Thanks, Cuteheads! I hope we can work a miracle for this old, sweet girl (and her sweet old former owner!). Huge thank you to Chris for telling this old girl's story so we could all work together for her!

P.S. We can make these amazing things happen because of the amazing group of friends we have here! I can never feel grateful enough. Everyone is just so nice!

P.P.S. If you'd like to adopt her, please fill out our adoption form. We can transport to a good home!

UPDATE 10:14am: Just got off the phone with the shelter to confirm she's still there and let them know we 100% will get her out (wanted to make sure nothing bad happened!), and she's still there! Working out the details on how we'll get her out. Will continue to update when she's safe!

11:10am: Cutehead Leslie W. is going to head over to bust Gwen out in the next couple hours! She'll go to our vet, Dr. Simon's Pet Clinic, and then to foster with Cutehead Kyle S. tonight! I'll keep updating... Still looking for adopter.

12:05pm: Leslie is on her way to bust Gwen out right now! Thank you to Good Karma Pet Rescue of South Florida  for stepping up to help her while we work out her adopter and transport!

2:30pm: GWEN IS SAFE! Yeah! Here is her freedom photo. And she is absolutely gorgeous! She will go to foster tonight while we work out her plan. What amazing teamwork today!

3/8/14: Gwen is on her transport to her new mom, Cutehead Karen R. is Maryland right now! YES!

Gorgeous Gwen out of the shelter! Yay!
HOW YOU CAN HELP
If you'd like to help Gwen and other cats like her, you can sign up to be a volunteer driver for our Cute Transport Network! The more people we have to get cats to their homes, the more we can help!

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Feb 10, 2014

Our Biggest Transport Weekend Ever! 25 Cats, 32 Drivers, 3,894 Miles! #shitloadofcats

Cute Transport NetworkThis past weekend was what I'm calling the "Mother of All Transport Weekends" -- it was our biggest and best transport weekend ever! We had kitties going all over the place!

There were a total of 25 cats, all saved and rescued, that traveled all over the country! An amazing crew of 32 different Cutehead drivers worked together on this super exciting weekend -- with some super adorable kitties aboard!

Most of the cats were saved from Broward Animal Control in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They were transported to rescues in Wisconsin, Illinois, Rhode Island and Maine! Gorgeous cats, cuddly kittens, a sweet FIV+ kitty and even an adorable FeLV girl -- all safe and sound because of our fellow Cuteheads and rescue partners!

Our transport kickoff crew!
Most of the cats are all done traveling as of last night, but there are a few of them camping out in St. Louis, MO for the week, and they'll do their last part of their journey to Wisconsin next Saturday. It is a three-day trip for them total!

It was so many cats, there was only one hashtag we could think of... #shitloadofcats!

Let's meet the kitties, shall we?

Blaine and Andi - saved from Broward Animal Control
Lily and her babies - rescued from the roof of a synagogue in Miami.
Inka and Dutch, saved from Miami Dade Animal Services as bottle babies.
Binx, rescued from Broward Animal Control after being returned by the people who originally adopted her.
Si, spunky girl saved from Broward.
Arden, Flip's pretty sister.
Flip, Arden's silly brother. 
Captain Jack, rescued from Broward with his brother, Stanley.
Stanley, also rescued from Broward.
Princess Peach, super floofy Broward rescue.
Dale, rescued from Hialeah Racetrack. 
Mario, also rescued from Hialeah Racetrack.
Winston, FIV+ bighead sweetie rescued from Broward. His FIV+ result would have meant certain death for him there. 
Annie, rescued from Broward after her owner passed away and she was dumped there. 
Another Annie! This girl tested FeLV+ at a shelter in Fort Walton, FL. She found a home in Pompano Beach, FL!
Sammie, Spunk and Simon, rescued from Broward. 
Whoa! That's a whole lot of cuteness, isn't it? So happy we could be a part in saving all these wonderful, cute, loving and deserving kitties!

Plus, to make things even more fun, each of our drivers had one of these window signs to put in their car while they were driving their leg!


Help Future Transports!
Want to help transport rescue kitties in the future? Sign up to be one of our volunteer drivers by filling out this form so we can contact you if a cat needs to go through your area! The more drivers we have, the more cats we can help! Also, please "like" Cute Transport Network on Facebook! Thank you all!

Tremendous Thank You!
Huge thanks to all our Cutehead drivers! YOU all make this possible. Maribel, Kd, Vicki, Gretchen, Shirley, Melanie, Desiree, Amanda, Donna, Linda, Karen, Barbara, Tina, Laura F., Hannah, Kim, Laura N., Tia, Marsha, Cindy, Laura B., Christy, Brian -- and next weekend's drivers: Libby, Elizabeth, Patricia and Carol!

Thanks to our sleepover spots: Desiree, Amanda, Laura N. and her brother, Christy and Wanda!

Enormous thanks to our fosters: Leslie, Brenda, Kristen, Ariana, Galit, Colleen, Carie, Roxanne, Rita and Tara.

Thanks to our local and amazing partner in rescue, Stacey of Good Karma Pet Rescue for making sure all the kitties are ready to go and vetted and safe and our saint of a vet, Dr. Simon of Dr. Simon's Pet Clinic for helping all of the herd!

And the biggest thanks of all to the new moms and rescues: Jenny of Orphan Animal Rescue and Sanctuary in Wisconsin, Cheryl of Forever Home Feline Ranch in Illinois, Elizabeth in Rhode Island, Sue, Suellen and Margaret of HART of Maine in Maine, and Debbie of Beyond 9 Cat Rescue in Pompano Beach, FL!

Please help us in the future! 
Sign up to be a Cutehead driver today! 


P.S. Can someone please, please tell Ellen about this? We should totally be on her show! These cute kitties and all of the amazing volunteers that are part of this deserve some spotlight! 

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