And more bonus! The widget for our "Be the Change" challenge is now live! Inspired by our "Be the Change" session at BlogPaws, me, Pawcurious and frugaldougal are encouraging all our bloggy buddies to make a difference!
We chose a name out of hat and we're challenging everyone to make a blog post to help raise money for them on Friday the 16th and join the special #blogpawty on Twitter on Wednesday the 21st from 7pm to 1am EST.
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!
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!
