We Have a Winner!!

Tiger, Motor, Jack and our Mom would like to announce the winner to our PAWsomeArt.com giveaway!  First, we would like to thank all who entered.  Thank's everyone!!  Because we had so much fun doing this, we will definitely do it again so stay tuned.

Photo taken by Flynn's Mom.

And the winner is... Flynn! 

Flynn, we hope your Mom is OK with us borrowing your photo.  Please contact us right away and we will work out the details of your winnings.  Congratulations!!

And thanks again everyone who participated.

PAWsome Art Giveaway - Revised and Simplified

***After posting my giveaway this afternoon, I decided that I wanted to create a  simpler way for people to enter.  So this is my revised entry information for PAWsome Art's February Giveaway.

This month I am doing a giveaway for a $20.00 Gift Certificate to my PAWsomeArt.com store.   PAWsome Art has jewelry, cards, prints and art, all with the animal lover in mind.  Please join our giveaway for the month, and stop by PAWsome Art to see all we have to offer!

The contest begins today and will run through Sunday, March 2nd.
  

There are 3 ways to enter:

 1.  Go to PAWsome Art's Facebook page and "like" it.  Then come back here to the blog, and in the comments, let me know you "liked" the Facebook page.  This will give you one entry.

2.  Go to PAWsomeArt.com, the gift store, and tell me what you would like to win!  Leave that information, also, in the comments.  This will give you one entry.

3.  If you make a purchase at PAWsome Art during the time of this drawing, you will be entered into the drawing 5 more times. 

It's that simple!!  The winner will be notified next week, as soon as possible. 

Please read the following before entering:

1.  Only one gift certificate will be awarded.

3. I will check all entries before picking a random winner.   Invalid entries will be deleted. 

4. The winner will have 72 hours to respond  to my e-mail in order to claim their prize. If  winners do not respond within that time frame, then I will need to choose another winner.

Good luck and thank you for participating!
 

Giveaway Contest to Promote My New Gift Store, PAWsome Art

Hi friends.  Sorry it has been so long since we have posted.  All the pets at "The Very Best Cats" are healthy and doing fine.  Thank goodness!   And I have just been busy with growing 2 online  businesses.  Oh, there was a Caribbean cruise we went on in January that was wonderful.  Please check out this wonderful giveaway I am doing this month and if you want, join in the fun. 

This month I am doing a giveaway for a $20.00 Gift Certificate to my PAWsomeArt.com store.   PAWsome Art has jewelry, cards, prints and art, all with the animal lover in mind.  Please join our giveaway for the month, and stop by PAWsome Art to see all we have to offer!

The contest begins today and will run through Sunday, March 2nd.

Please read the following before entering:

1.  This contest is open to everyone.

2.  Only one gift certificate will be awarded.

3. I will check all entries before picking a random winner.   Invalid entries will be deleted.  Make sure you fill  in the correct information required for your points, otherwise, your entries will be invalid for the drawing.

4. The winner will have 72 hours to respond  to my e-mail in order to claim their prize. If  winners do not respond within that time frame, then I will need to choose another winner.

Good luck and thank you for participating!
 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

PAWsomeArt.com - A New Gift Store for Animal Lovers

I started a new online business about a month ago that I wanted to share.  It is called PAWsome Art and this new business combines my love of animals, with my love for art and creating beautiful things.

PAWsomeArt.com will carry jewelry, cards, prints and art for animal lovers.  Currently, there is jewelry and cards, and soon I will be adding prints, all designed by me.  This is a business I hope to grow and add to for a long time.  I have a love for most animals, but cats and dogs are my true inspiration so a lot of what I carry will be cat and dog related.

(As I write this, I am surrounded by all my pets.  Help!  I am sitting on my couch and I have Motor on my left side,  Jack on my right, and Tiger on the cat climbing furniture, right in front of me.  I was gone this morning, so now they have a need to huddle around me.  They are all relaxing, they have their eyes closed, but I know what they are really waiting for is for me to feed them.  It's getting close to dinner time.) 

I want to share a few of the items that I have made for my new store...

A cool kitty necklace.

Another cool cat necklace, this one with the artwork of my favorite vintage artist, Louis Wain.

This shows a lose up portion of a gorgeous necklace with a crane.  This is a one of a kind piece. 

Love paw pendant.

This is a favorite of mine:  Peace, Love Rescue.

This is one of my cards, and yes, that is Motor.  It has my most favorite animal quote on it: "When I look into the eyes of an animal, I do not see an animal.  I see a friend.  I feel a soul."  There are also prints available of this.  They are just not up in the store yet.

Another cat card.

And another cat card.

With all of my sales from my PAWsome Art gift items, I am donating 5-10% of my profits to animal related causes:  rescues and shelters, spay and neuter, and hopefully more.  These causes are very important to me, and this is a way that I can help for now.  I hope to do more as this business grows.  It maybe small, but all ready I have been able to donate $15.00 to Miranda's Rescue, the rescue we adopted Jack from, and $15.00 to another local non profit that is collecting funds to open a dog park. 

I hope you come by and take a look at my new store.  And please, tell your friends about it too.   And if you are on Facebook, please "like" my PAWsomeArt page.  Here is that link:  https://www.facebook.com/PAWsomeArtDesigns

Synchronicity - A Tale of Four Dogs

I have a very wonderful story to share.  I know this blog is called, "The Very Best CATS," but this dog story is too good not to share.   It is a bit lengthy, but I think you will enjoy it.

I found out what the ending, or maybe I should call it the beginning, of the story was a couple of weeks ago.  And boy, did it make me happy. 

Jack on a walk.

It started about a month and a half  ago week when I was taking my dog Jack out for his afternoon walk.  Jack is a mini schnauzer and a rescue dog.  Many of you all ready know that.  We adopted him from a non profit shelter in our local area named Miranda's Rescue.  He was five at the time.  Not that that matters.  But since then, Miranda's has had a very special place in my heart.

Actually the story starts about seven weeks ago at a Pet Fair that I did at a place called The Farm Store.  The Farm Store hosted a day fair to raise money for our local non profits.  They had many representatives of pet food companies there giving out free samples of their products, as well as artisans selling their wares to help raise money, and many of our animal organizations were there giving out information, and some even had animals to adopt.

So I wanted to meet the owner of Miranda's Rescue because we got Jack from them.  I introduced myself to Shannon Miranda, and talked to him a little about adopting Jack, and let him know how Jack was doing.  During our discussion, he told me they had 2 more mini schnauzers at the rescue right that needed to be adopted.  I just filed that away in my head, knowing we were not in a place to adopt any more animals. 

OK, back to my walk with Jack a few days later.  So we are walking past a house where I know two other mini schnauzers live.  The owner of the home, JoAnne,  is outside, and she sees us walking toward her, just down the street a bit.  She calls me over and asks what breed of dog is Jack.  I tell her and she tells me she has one now, that she just had another one die maybe a week earlier.   She told me her little one, Lily Belle, is lonely now, and asks me if I know anyone that has mini schnauzers that need a home.  I couldn't believe the question.  Yes, I knew.  I told her about the two I heard were at Miranda's Rescue and I urged her to call them right away.

And she did.  As soon as I left, she called.  When she went to the rescue to see the dogs, one had all ready been adopted, and she took home the second one.  She named him Otis.  Otis and Lily Belle are getting on very well together.  I cannot tell you how happy that made me feel, knowing that somehow I was instrumental in helping Otis get a new forever home.

Lily Belle and Otis.

Lily Belle on left.

Otis on the right.

 The synchronicity of it all was amazing.  What a great feeling it is to help out an animal in need.  And to make a few humans happy in the process too.

But this story gets even better.  A week or two after JoAnne adopted Otis, her sister-in-law was visiting and after seeing Otis, decided she wanted to adopt a dog for her husband.  So she went down to Miranda's Rescue also, and adopted Angel, a dachshund/corgi mix.   Angel has found a very happy, loving forever home, from what my new friend JoAnne has told me.  That makes my heart happy.

Recent Goings On at The Very Best Cats

Life, here, at The Very Best Cats has been very busy lately. We have had some health issues with your animals that as everyone that loves a pet knows, can be very distressing. Jack, our 7 year old mini schnauzer has developed incontinence. He leaks all day, everywhere. Besides all the constant laundry and extra cleaning we are doing, you can also tell it is distressing to him. We took Jack to our vet and had him checked out. The vet thinks he is healthy. No diabetes, no bladder problems. Just incontinent. So we are trying him on a medication for female dogs, called Proing. Seems to be working for now.

Jack, relaxing in the studio with me.

The other issue we are having with Jack is collasping. We have 2 different types of collapsing. The collapsing in the morning during his morning walk. Within the first couple of blocks, his back legs start getting wobbly and he has to lay down for about half a minute, then he is ready to go again. The second form of collapsing happens if he gets excited and overly playful. And it doesn't take a lot of exertion for this one to happen. But I will see his back legs start to wobble, the he falls on his side with his legs straight out and stiff, and he doesn't move for 1-2 minutes. He has his eyes open, and is breathing normally. After the couple of minutes, he is back up to his normal self. It looks like that on the outside. Don't know what is going on on the inside. Either does the vet.

Outside the studio, in the catio, in the sun.

 Oh, there is one more version of his collapsing, where his muscles go limp and he just kind of melts into the floor or his bed if he is in it. I can tell you, these have been very distressing and worrisome for me. And the fact that the vet can't really tell me anything about them is not helpful.

Then we have Tiger. Tiger can be a bit compulsive about cleaning. But in the last couple of months, he has been excessive. Cleaning and scratching so much that he has had scabs all over his face and chin. Last week he actually had open wounds, hot spots, caused from his scratching and biting. So I went to my local pet store and 2 different clerks suggested food allergies. I didn't think much about it at first. Then a decided to stop feeding him one of 2 dry foods I had changed him to about 2 months ago. It is one of the very healthy natural brands called Blue. Well that was it. By the second day of being off that food, he is back to his old self again. I feel bad that it took me 2 months to figure this out for him, but I am glad I finally have. He is much more calm and relaxed. And so am I.

Tiger stretching in the sun, in the catio.

 And just to let you know, Motor is good. No health problems to share with Motor. Thank goodness.

Motor, relaxing.

During this time of health concerns with my pets, I also made a huge discovery. An outdoor cat that I was taking care of for about 4 years before we adopted Jack, has been found. You may remember Smokey, my outside girl. I tried to bring her indoors to make her an indoor cat right before she either took off or someone picked her up out of our neighborhood and rehomed her. I was so sad. And I have been looking for her in my neighborhood since.

Smokey.

One recent afternoon while I was taking a break from working, I was checking out my Facebook page and I saw one of our local adoption/rescue agencies had a photo of a cat that looked like her, with a small write up saying someone was looking for a home for her. That they couldn't take care of her anymore. From the description online, I just though it looked like her, so I called the phone number with the listing and found out this cat was about 2 miles away from where I live. I got the address and had to go there twice, but I finally met the cat, and it is Smokey. She remembered me. It was like old homecoming week. She came to me and let me pet her and talk to her, and she rolled over on her back and let me pet her more. I am so happy to know she is OK, and looks very healthy.

Beautiful Smokey.

Now I am trying to decide whether or not to try to rehome her here, again. If she remains an outdoor cat, she is in a better neighborhood where she is right now. The person I contacted has been feeding her but she is moving and all ready has 2 cats. I don't know if anyone else is taking care of her. If I bring her our home, I don't know if she wants to be an indoor cat. There are so many adjustments she would have to make. And there are so many adjustments my family of pets would have to make. I think if I tried to rehome her and have her be an outdoor cat where I live, she would just take off again because of our dog Jack. So I have a lot to consider.

Dear friends, if you have any feedback or advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

So that is our latest news. Sorry we have been away or so long. Just a busy life. Hope all our kitty friends are happy and healthy.

The Kitty Marching Band

The video I am sharing is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.  It is by Mitchiri Neko and it is of a kitty marching band, with a very catchy tune.  It is a very fun and happy video.  Please, take a look.  I think you will enjoy.