Happy Two Cats Tuesday, Cuteheads! Today, Pimp is doing a little pouting. I told him to snap out of it, but he just has this face...
I am pouting a little bit. But I'm still cute, right?
So why is Pimp pouting? Well, he is a sad because there are lots of kitties and doggies in shelters that won't be lucky enough to have comfy, warm, loving forever homes like he and Moo have for Christmas. He is sad because while he'll no doubt get showered with new mice and catnip toys, his furry friends in shelters probably won't.
It's sad, yes... but we can cheer Pimp up!
How, you ask? It's easy! Lucky for him, his mommy (the Queen of Cute herself!) and some friends have put together Santa Paws Drive -- an online toy, treat and donation drive to bring Christmas to shelter animals!
Yes! And YOU can help! Me, Pimp and Moo are asking (begging, pleading, looking very cute and convincing) you to please donate a few green papers or a toy to Santa Paws Drive. It's so easy! All you have to do is go to SantaPawsDrive.com and choose what you'd like to donate. Then, when the drive is over (Dec. 10 for toys and Dec. 20 for cash), me and the other three elves are going to divide up the goodies between the six shelters around the world and send them huge holiday gift packages!
Moo got a new shirt just to show his support for Santa Paws Drive! That's worth at least a dollar donation from everyone, right?
We sincerely wish all these cats and dogs could have forever homes for Christmas, but if they can't, we at least want them to have some holiday joy.
Our goal is to raise at least $800 for each of the six shelters plus oodles and oodles of toys and treats for the cats and dogs! We'd love your support. Every single dollar helps... and spreading the word helps even more!
I've been waiting for today for almost a month now, Cuteheads. Really and truly looking forward to it.
Today is the day when tons of pet blogs are working together and dedicating their posts to making a difference in animals' lives, to being the change they want to see in the world.
"Be the Change" was born at BlogPaws last weekend, and I hope it grows big and strong! At a session led by myself, Lynn Haigh (@frugaldougal's mom) and Dr. V or pawcurious.com and moderated by Jane Harrell of Petfinder, we put everyone in attendance's name in a basket. We drew one, and that person got to choose the rescue that everyone would work to help today. The winner chose Pets Without Parents, and I can't think of a more deserving cause.
So How Will CUTE be the Change? I thought for a while what I would do for my post. I didn't want to just post the fundraising widget and beg and plead for money. I wanted to actually do something. Something to be a better person and do more for a cause I so strongly believe in.
Those of you who know me and the Cute know I feed a ton of parking lot kitties. There are 13 of them! The Meows are the two that hang out by my car in the office parking lot, but there are also three other bunches of cats who I know by name, personality and favorite food. Little Meow, Daddy Meow, Westin, Orange Guy, Bully, Petunia, Sweet Pea, Daisy, Cry Baby... They are all a part of my life, and I look forward to serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with the cat food that the trunk of my car is always stocked with.
But I don't even look at that as something I'm doing above and beyond -- it's something that has just become so much a part of my life that I even visit the office parking lot kitties on the weekends. And so I need to do something more to be the change I want to see...
And so I decided I'm going to finally do something I've always wanted to and talked about doing. I'm going to take some of my free time and volunteer and my favorite local animal shelter. I'm going to give them some of my free time (it's not much I have, but what better way to use it, right?), and do whatever they need.
If they need poop scooped, bring me the scooper!
If they need mouths fed, cages cleaned, kitties brushed or floors swept, I'm there!
If the cats need a little extra love (and we all know they do), well then, I'll give them every little bit of love I have to give. Because they deserve it. Because it's not their fault they don't have forever homes. Because they should be surrounded by people who care for them, and show them just how special they are.
So, for every $100 we raise for Pets Without Parents in our "Be the Change" challenge, I'm going to donate a weekend day to the special kitties at Cats Exclusive in Margate, Florida. They don't know it yet... but I have a feeling they're going to be seeing a lot of Cute! :)
And now this is where you all come in: Help me help them! We'll be helping two rescue shelters at once! Pets Without Parents will get the much-needed donations and Cats Exclusive will get some much-needed volunteer time from me. (I'll go anyway, you know, but this just makes it fun...)
Any little amount you can spare to donate to Pets Without Parents would mean a lot. Let's Be the Change together -- and let's be the biggest change we can be for these animals!
And if you can't donate, please help us spread the word! The more people who do, the better! Never underestimate what a big difference even the smallest gestures can make.
Now go, go, go! Let's make Be the Change the talk of the Web today! (List of blogs participating below the video!)
P.S. If you haven't seen the amazingly inspiring and touching video from @frugaldougal about what a difference just a few caring people can make, please don't miss it!
Happy Two Cats Tuesday, Cuteheads! Whew, am I pooped after this weekend at BlogPaws. I had an amazing time, met some amazing people and am super excited to do some amazing stuff with them!
If you didn't know, one of the huge perks of attending a cool conference like this is all the fun swag you get -- I came home with loads of toys and treats for Pimp and Moo (and some fun stuff for me, too!).
The first toy I gave Moo was this apparently super niptacular Fat Cat Zoom Stuffer toy. It's like a stuffed cat with a diaper on... and you put this pawsome nip packet in the "diaper" pocket. And let me tell you... Moo was ALL NIPPED OUT.
That's one crazy kitty! He was twitchin' and spinnin' (and I clearly lost track of which way was up with the camera, but no matter, right?).
By far, one of the most fun parts of BlogPaws was meeting all the humans behind my kitty and doggie friends. When I first walked into the hotel, I immediately recognized CosmoHavanese... but who was that lady attached to the other end of his leash?!? Oh! It was his mom!
I got a smooch from Cosmo! Such a ladies man...
You know their pets, but do you know them? This is @CosmoHavanese's mom, @BabyPatches' momma, @frugaldougal's staff, @BrewskieButt's mom @BZTAT and me (I'm @PimpTheCat's mom, of course.).
Me and Lynn, @frugaldougal's mom. I can see where he gets his fabulous personality from, mai pals...
And this is me and Salina, @BabyPatches momma and the fabulous woman behind NipandBones.com! Love her!
I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was so busy having too much fun. Next year, I'll be a better camera woman for sure!
Now for some good stuff: During the session I was a speaker for called "Be the Change," we decided as a huge group to all work together to raise some money for someone in the group's favorite shelter.
We put everyone's name in a basket (You all should have been there while I was trying to track down a basket in the hotel! Hehe.), and the person's name we chose got to pick the shelter that our Be the Change challenge got to benefit. It's Pets Without Parents in Columbus, Ohio!
Basically we are challenging everyone to post a blog on Friday to help raise money for Pets Without Parents (I'll post a link to the Firstgiving donation widget soon!) and we're also going to do a mini #blogpawty on Twitter (probably Wednesday night... stay tuned!).
More info to follow. I'd love all the Cuteheads to help out and help make the challenge we came up with a huge success. Our goal is $500, and I know we can do it if we work together!
As one of the team members behind Santa Paws Drive,Your Daily Cute is donating 5 cents for every person who follows@SantaPawsDriveon Twitter-- up to 4,000 followers!
Santa Paws Drive's mission is to bring holiday cheer and presents to shelter animals who are often overlooked during the holidays. Pets who are lucky enough to have forever homes are showered with gifts and love, while our furry friends in shelters miss out...
Through Santa Paws Drive, six shelters worldwide will get great holiday care packages full of toys and treats, plus an additional cash donation for each! Our goal is to put some big smiles on the faces of as many shelter cats and dogs as we can!
See the counter widget on the Cute's sidebar to see how much we've raised so far!
How can you help? It's easy to donate toys or money! Simply visit http://www.santapawsdrive.com and click either "Cash" or "Gifts." Simply choose the toys, treats or dollar amount you'd like to give!
There are no shipping charges for any of the items purchased for Santa Paws Drive!
Note from Cute: Whoo hoo! We blew past our $1,000 goal for Animal Aid donations, so we upped it to $2,000! I hope we get there!
Hi Cuteheads! In honor of the #chickfest fundraiser on Twitter today, I want to introduce you to two extra-special kitties in my life. If you've been following the Cute for a while, you already know about The Meows, but today I want to share even more.
The Meows are two parking lot kitties I've been feeding at my office parking lot for about two years now. They are Little Meow and Daddy Meow -- together, The Meows. Little Meow, from stories I've heard, is Daddy Meow's baby... hence the names. :)
Daddy Meow has always been fixed, but not so much for Little Meow. She had three litters of kittens while I've been caring for her, but until recently didn't trust me enough to let me grab her. For each of her first two litters, I was able to find and adopt out one kitten each.
This is them! Pirate and Peanut.
They both got happy homes. In fact, Peanuts 1st birthday is tomorrow the 12th!
When Little Meow had her next litter I lucked out and had help. A great friend helped me round up the baby kitties (only 4 days old!) and momma and we got them a foster home through Animal Aid, an amazing non-profit rescue here in South Florida.
(This is why I bring up The Meows today -- 100% of the money raised during #chickfest will go to Animal Aid! Yay!)
Animal Aid rallied behind Little Meow and her new babies and fully funded getting her spayed, feeding and caring for the babies and adoptions when they were old enough. I can't thank them enough.
These are the babies from her "last hurrah" litter: Beanie, Yin Yang, Scruffy and Swirl (clockwise from top left). I loved Scruffy!
Little Meow even ended up taking in three little orphan kitties whose mommy unfortunately died while giving birth to them. She nursed 7 babies! And after she was done being such a good mommy, Animal Aid paid to get her spayed and I was able to bring her back "home" to the parking lot... and back to Daddy.
This is their reunion video. (I cried the whole way through as I was releasing her. So happy.) This is me just making sure they would still know each other before I let her out...
A happy ending! It's been about 6 months since then and Little Meow and Daddy are happier than ever -- with no worry of kittens or getting pregnant -- and some super cute kitties have happy and safe forever homes.
All thanks to the amazing people at Animal Aid.
They are just a few people who spend an incredible amount of time and love on the cats they rescue and help. I can't say enough about what a great organization Animal Aid is. This is why I'm so excited about #chickfest today -- it's a 24-hour virtual "pawpawty" (2 p.m. today to 2 p.m. Saturday) on Twitter to raise money for this extra special group.
Animal Aid has a main center with a Cat Room which houses many adult cats and kittens hoping to find mommies and daddies to take them home. They also have several Cat Rooms at Petco and PetSmart locations where people can meet the cats and kittens, and hopefully fall in love with them.
The whole time they are waiting for forever homes, they are loved, petted, played with and cared for. They all have names -- and everyone at Animal Aid knows them by their names. You won't find anyone named Cage #127 here. They are a truly special organization.
If you have a few dollars to spare, and would like to help out Animal Aid so they can continue to do the amazing things they do, please consider donating to our drive. Our goal of $1,000 would go so, so far and do so much for these needy cats and kittens!
Thanks for reading... I'm off to feed The Meows!
P.S. Did you know that all the ad revenue I get from the Cute goes to buying food to feed The Meows? It does! So thanks for your clicks and support.
See you at #chickfest!
Update: I had to help Daddy Meow to the Rainbow Bridge on June 10, 2010. He was losing weight quickly, so I took him to the vet, where I found out he had cancer. There was a large tumor in his stomach, and the vet told me he was probably in pain and that it would be best for him if I let him go peacefully and comfortably. I'll never forget Daddy Meow. He was one of the best cats ever. Thank you all for letting me share him with you.
Updated update: Little Meow is now an inside kitty! She got lucky and I was able to get her out of the parking lot and into the most perfect home. Now she's the princess she always deserved to be!
