Happy 1st Gotcha Day, Tylan!

Hi everyone! Tylan's first Gotcha Day was technically yesterday (October 8th), but we are celebrating it today and hope he doesn't mind we are a day late.

I cannot believe it's been a year since Tylan came home to live with us. He came home nearly one month after Lita went to the Rainbow Bridge. My heart was still shattered from her death. Having a new kitty family member was wonderful, but it was also an adjustment for everyone. 

I'm honestly surprised that Tylan is still with us given all his tremendous health challenges. His health is still quite precarious - I just don't talk about it much because I don't feel like it's very fair to drag you all on this roller coaster ride I'm on with him. 

Mancat Monday with Lewis and Clark

Hi everyone!

It's a special Mancat Monday. Do you remember our friends Lewis and Clark? They have been with their new people now for 10 weeks, so we decided it was a good time for an update.

Isn't Lewis cute? Lewis has always been the more outgoing of the pair. He likes to hang out on the cat tree in his new home. He and Clark like to sit and watch their people make their breakfast in the morning. 

Lewis and Clark have been venturing upstairs often lately, and they like to take turns hanging out in the laundry basket. 

Doug has been able to pet Lewis a bit! Isn't that cool?

Clark (below) has always been the shier and more fearful of the two boys. It took a few weeks before he ventured out at all. Now he stays out for a bit sometimes and goes upstairs with Lewis. 

He will usually let Denise get close enough to him to get a photo if she's quiet about it. 

I heard the most amazing news the other day. Doug was able to touch Clark!! For Clark, this is tremendous progress! He ran off after he was touched, but he did let Doug touch him, and that's really amazing.

The boys' foster mom had them for about six months, and she said that the boys were still running from her. I don't think she ever even got to pet them. So for being in their home only 10 weeks, both boys are making incredible progress in learning to trust their new people. 

I don't think these two could have asked for a better home. Even Max (the dog) gives the boys their space and doesn't bother them. 

I talk to their human, Denise, nearly everyday and get updates on them. I always love hearing about how well the boys are doing! I will keep you all posted on their progress. 

Seven Great Reasons to Adopt a Pet #RememberMeThursday

It's #RememberMeThursday - a day where we shed light on all of the animals in shelters and rescues who are waiting for their forever homes.

All of my cats (except for Lita, who was given to my dad by a family friend) have either been adopted from a shelter or a rescue.

Cats who find themselves in shelters or rescues are often unwanted - they have often been surrendered, abandoned, or returned. They may have been mistreated, neglected, or abused. Homeless cats and dogs find themselves in shelters and rescues through absolutely no fault of their own. They all deserve a loving home where they are adored and spoiled rotten.

Here are just a few great reasons to consider adopting a new pet.

You Save a Life: One of the greatest reasons to adopt a pet from a shelter or rescue is that you save a life. Though many shelters and rescues strive to get every animal in their care adopted, the sad reality is that approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized each year, according to the ASPCA. While this number has decreased from 2.6 million in 2011, we still have a long way to go. Every time you adopt an animal, you are saving that animal's life and giving him or her the chance he or she deserves at a happy and loving home.

You Help Stop Cruel Breeding Practices: In kitten and puppy mills, female cats and dogs are impregnated repeatedly, forced to produce litter after litter while living with little to no human contact in horrible environmental conditions. When you choose to adopt from a shelter or rescue instead of buying a kitten or puppy from a pet store, you are helping stop these cruel breeding practices.

Dying Made Easy(er) Book Review

Dying - it's something none of us want to think about, let alone discuss. But dying is a natural - and inevitable - part of life. The more prepared we can be for the event, the better, in my opinion.

When my stepmother died a few years ago, she had everything in order for my dad to take care of after she passed. She fought a long, hard battle with aplastic anemia for a couple of years before she died. Her last hope was a bone marrow transplant. She knew going into the procedure that there was a 25% chance that she would not survive it.

Part of the process for a bone marrow transplant is destroying a person's immune system with chemotherapy. This means that if any infection or illness were to occur, her body could not fight it off, and antibiotics, are useless in these cases as well.

The doctors said that if someone could survive for three months after the bone marrow transplant, they were very likely to keep surviving.

Sadly, at the very end of that three months, Marie (my stepmom) developed pneumonia. Because she had no immune system, she could not fight the illness. It was the thing that took her life - far too soon, in my opinion. She was the kindest, gentlest person I have ever had the honor of knowing. While we weren't close, her death really affected me because of how much she suffered and because of the kind of person she was.

After she died, my dad told me the amount of paperwork he had to do to tie things up was unbelievable. And, as I previously mentioned, Marie had everything in order. I cannot imagine how much more paperwork there would have been if she hadn't gotten all of her affairs in order ahead of time.

Thankful Thursday: Remembering Lita

It has been one year since Lita left us.

I thought it might be nice to share a few of my favorite memories of her today.

When Lita and I first moved here, I was going to graduate school. One day, I was listening to one of my boring social work textbooks and eating a few Sun Chips for a snack. I was holding up my chip to take a bite of it when Lita (who was behind me on the top of the the couch) leaned over my shoulder and took a bite right out of my chip! I said, "I didn't know cats like Sun Chips!"

Jewel's former human introduced me to Meerkat Mannor. The first time I watched it, Lita was on the couch with me. She got all interested and started swiping at the meerkats on the TV! She really loved watching that show, so one Christmas I bought her the first season on DVD.