04.23.07
Posted in Just For Fun at 3:49 pm by pawpathblog
Cat Women: Female Writers On Their Feline Friends edited by Megan McMorris
There is a great new book out filled with essays by women about cats! Here is a excerpt of one of the essays:
Planet Catnip: My Life With An Alien Cat by Leah A. Zeldes
For years, I’ve suspected that my cat, Max, is an alien. I don’t know what planet he beamed down from, but he’s definitely Out There.
For one thing, he likes to follow us around the house, watching intently, as if he’s taking mental notes on all our doings to report to someone later. I work at home, so his favorite observation spot during the day is my desk. When he’s not staring unnervingly at my computer screen while I type, he’s sitting on my papers - he has a sixth sense of just which one I need at any time, and that suddenly becomes his favorite resting spot.
But anyone could argue that those are “normal” cat traits. The biggest hint I have that Max is not from this world is his abnormal reaction to catnip. Most cats, when exposed to this herb, become excited, euphorically sniffing, rolling around, shaking their heads, and rubbing against things. Even lions and tigers have this catnip response. Not Max.
Read the rest of this essay and many more in Cat Women: female writers on their feline friends available on amazon.com >>
Copyright 2007 edited by Megan McMorris from Cat Women: Female Writers on Their Feline Friends. Reprinted by permission of Seal Press, an Imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, Inc., distributed by Publishers Group West. All rights reserved.
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04.13.07
Posted in Just For Fun at 6:50 pm by pawpathblog
Here’s Leo trying to convince us that he’s cuter than the cover cat on Cat Fancy Magazine…and doing a pretty good job!
We had to tell him that he could never be a cat model, as he wouldn’t cooperate for a second in a studio!
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04.12.07
Posted in Just For Fun at 6:50 pm by pawpathblog
I found a new cubby!
I only liked it for a day though, but the humans went crazy when they saw me and kept taking pictures, they are so weird…Bambi
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04.09.07
Posted in Cat News at 9:10 pm by pawpathblog
An Oklahoma fourth-grade class raised enough money to pay for pet wheelchairs for a quadriplegic cat and two disabled dogs through bake sales, pet parades and community donations.
Xavier is a 10-month-old yellow tabby cat from Pawtucket, R.I., that is unable to walk because of a neurological disorder. Now, in the pet wheelchair he received in March, he’s able to get around on his own. Amy, a disabled Chihuahua from Cayce, S.C., was born without front legs. Amy moved by hopping on her back legs until she received her rear-wheel cart from the money raised by the fourth graders. Zach, a 13-year-old Beagle from Melbourne, Fla., also was unable to walk because of a weak back end. Now, in his wheelchair, he moves freely and gets the exercise he needs.
Kathy Barton, a fourth-grade teacher in Velma, Okla., organized the students’ fundraisers. For the past few years, Barton has helped her classes raise money to support disabled cats and dogs.
In 2005, Barton’s class raised almost $1,000 to fly an injured Dachshund in Tennessee to her new home in Maine and purchase the dog wheelchair she needed to walk again. In 2006, Barton’s class raised $1,100 to provide equipment to dogs in South Carolina and New York.
Barton has worked closely for years with HandicappedPets.com, an organization that teaches people pets with handicaps can lead happy, healthy lives.
Barton said she began developing a curriculum that focused on helping pets three years ago. Her fourth graders have learned about handicapped pets; blind pets, pets with cancer, pets with special needs, such as wheelchairs, harnesses, slings, diapers and more.
“It has changed how these children see animals and people with disabilities, and it breathes new life into the pets they help,” Barton said. “The class has some children with behavior problems who have exhibited a new level of focus and excitement toward this project.”
For more information on wheelchairs for disabled pets, visit http://www.handicappedpets.com/
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04.07.07
Posted in Cat News, Cat Articles at 1:45 pm by pawpathblog
As of April 5, 2007, Sunshine Mills is voluntarily recalling its dog biscuits as a precautionary measure, including These brands include: Nurture Chicken & Rice, Nurture Lamb & Rice, Pet Life Large, Pet Life Extra Large, Pet Life Large Variety, Pet Life Large Peanut Butter, Lassie Lamb and Rice, and Pet Life People Pleasers Dog Treats. Private label biscuits for six of Sunshine’s customers were also affected. A complete list of affected biscuit brands, sizes, and codes is available below or at our website, www.sunshinemills.com. Sunshine’s other biscuit brands and products that include small and medium sized biscuits were not affected. It is also important to note that dry dog and cat food and soft and chewy treats for dogs or cats manufactured by Sunshine are not affected and not included in this recall.
Read the Sunshine Mills Press Release >>
Also, the FDA said that Menu Foods, the manufacturer from which the recalls originated last month, will be amending its original recall to extend some product dates. The extended recall now covers products dated from November 8, 2006 through March 15, 2007. The original recall spanned products dated from December 3, 2006 through March 15, 2007.
Bookmark & check the AVMA Pet Food Recall Page for up-to-date information.
However, only about 1% of commercially available pet food has been contaminated with melamine, a substance used as a fertilizer and in the production of plastics, such as kitchenware and whiteboard surfaces. Read the FDA Press Release about melamine >>
Please keep in mind that many common household foods and products can be dangerous for your pet. Check out the Cat Fancier’s Association Page’s Ten Tips for A Poison-Safe Household. It also lists human food & household plants that can be deadly to cats.
A reader wrote to us telling us about her cat, Charlie, who unfortunately was poisoned last Christmas when he broke a snow globe and ingested the liquid inside which contained antifreeze. She asked us to share her story. Our hearts go out to you, Charlie!
Here is a link to the Antifreeze Warning issued by the ASPCA and National Animal Poison Control Center.
So please remember that although you should monitor the pet food recall carefully, there are many more common household products you need to protect your beloved pet from.
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04.06.07
Posted in Store Updates at 4:21 pm by pawpathblog
Our Barnes & Noble Cat Bookstore is temporarily closed. We are revamping it and the store should be up again soon. If you’d like to be notified when it re-opens, please contact us. We apologize for any inconvenience!
In the meanwhile, please visit either www.amazon.com or www.bn.com for a wide selection of cat books.
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04.04.07
Posted in Cat Articles at 10:04 pm by pawpathblog
With all this recall business and new products being added periodically, what should our humans do to protect us from harm coming from commercial foods? It’s a fact that it’s very difficult for humans to make us any home-cooked meals that can meet our nutritional needs (as yummy as table scraps are). What can we say, we are more complex animals than people!
Read an interesting article about humans who never considered cooking for their pets a possibility now running to get copies of pet cookbooks (one which sold out on Amazon!) on the New York Times: “Home Cooking For Pets Is Suddenly Not So Odd”
A widely recommended website - recommended by the The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the ASPCA, which we’ve had trouble loading (probably due to its sudden popularity, is www.petDIETS.com… it’s a website with nutritional advice and homemade diets from veterinary nutritionists.
But before you beg your humans to cook meals for you, check out this page on Problems With Homemade Diets. Apparently, even the recipes in the pet cookbooks out there may not have been tested properly by nutritionists, and a survey found that almost 90% of homemade diets prescribed by veterinarians were nutrionally inadequate for adult dogs and cats!
So the bottom line is, Leo & I are sticking with Fancy Feast dry food…since we feel pretty healthy.
“If your pet is healthy and doing well on the pet food it is currently eating, and the food is not on the recalled products list, there is no reason to change their diet,” said AVMA President Roger Mahr, DVM. Read the entire press release with his quote in context here.
purrs,
Bambi
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04.02.07
Posted in Cat News, Cat Articles at 11:47 pm by pawpathblog
We took a brief respite from blogging, but we are back and will try to be more regular with our posting!
Here’s something that we should have posted a while back, but here it is anyway:
Hill’s Prescription Diet m/d dry added to recall list
We were lucky that we only eat Fancy Feast cat food, which is currently not on the recall list. We hope all you cat bloggers out there are safe and sound! For an updated list of the cat foods that have been recalled, go to http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html. You can also visit http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/default.asp for update news on the recall.
Here’s some more info:
Of the cats that suffered renal damage from eating contaminated foods, the following clinical signs were seen:
If your cat is known to have eaten one of the foods on the list and is showing any of the signs listed above, we recommend that you schedule an appointment as soon as possible with a veterinarian so that they can evaluate your cat for kidney damage.
If your cat was fed one of the foods, but has no clinical signs of illness, it still might be a good idea to have the cat evaluated and the kidney function assessed.
Hill’s Prescription Diet m/d dry has been voluntarily recalled by the Hill’s Company. Cat owners should stop feeding dry m/d (canned is fine).
Scary business. Hope none of you are sick!
purrs,
Leo & Bambi
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