Friday Faves: Our Favorite Treats From BlogPaws

I sorted through all my swag from BlogPaws after I had been home a couple of days. I decide what I'm going to keep for my critters and what I'm going to donate to the shelter. If there are treats, food, or toys I already know my guys won't enjoy, it goes in the donate pile. If there is something they already use or something I've been wanting to try, it goes in the keep pile.

As I sorted, I found several new treats I wanted them to taste. A couple were instant hits!

The cats all LOVED the lamb bark treats from Scout and Zoe's.

Stilwell was really hoping for more.

Treats for the dogs can be hard to choose. Yaz is overweight, so I try to find treats that are healthy and low calorie. Heloise is even more of a challenge. With her kidney issues, I can't add any extra protein to her diet. Not only did I find a treat that fits the needs of both dogs, but they love them, too! Check out these Coconut Smiles from Dr. Harvey's.

I'm going to be stocking up on both of these treats!


Neither company contacted nor compensated me for this post. I got small sample packages of each in my swag bag from BlogPaws and since they went over so well, I wanted to tell you all about them.

Trivia Time at BlogPaws

Are you going to be at BlogPaws this week? I am! I hope to use my time there to hang out with friends, learn to make my blog better, and to say "Thank you" to my readers. Since BlogPaws is such a fun conference, I want to say thank you in a fun way, so I'm going to have trivia questions all about my furry family and correct answers will result in fun little prizes from Sebastian the Sensitive Soul.

Because I want everyone to have a shot at a prize, I'm going to give you the answers right here in this post! There are only 10, so it should be easy enough, but you can always print them out and carry them with you if you'd like. I'm giving out a total of 25 prizes, so some questions will be used more than once.

WHAT WAS THE NAME OF SEBASTIAN'S GUINEA PIG SISTER? DOTTIE
WHO IS THE 11-YEAR-OLD DOG WE ADOPTED THIS YEAR? HELOISE
WHAT ACCESSORY DOES LOWENSTEIN WEAR? BOW-TIE
WHAT KIND OF DOG IS YAZ? CORGI MIX
WHERE DO I VOLUNTEER? GREAT PLAINS SPCA
WHAT IS THE TAG-LINE USED FOR PICTURES OF HARVEY WHEN HE IS SLEEPING? GOODNIGHT, HARVEY MONSTER
WHAT TYPE OF POST WILL YOU SEE EVERY MONDAY ON "SEBASTIAN THE SENSITIVE SOUL"? CAT QUOTABLES
WHERE DO ALL THE CURRENT CATS IN THE "SEBASTIAN THE SENSITIVE SOUL" FAMILY GET THEIR NAMES? THE MOVIE "A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN"
WHO IS THE FOSTER KITTY CURRENTLY LIVING IN MY OFFICE? KEVIN (SHE'S A GIRL)
WHO IS MY FAVORITE CARTOON CHARACTER? HELLO KITTY

There you have it! All the answers you will need to win a cool prize from Sebastian the Sensitive Soul. Be sure to find me at the conference and tell me you want to play. I'll be carrying a bag with Sebastian's picture on it (the same picture as the blog header) and all the prizes inside. I can't wait to see everybody!

Wordless Wednesday: Flat Me with Odilia at BlogPaws

Thundershirt Season

Mama got home from BlogPaws yesterday just before the storms passed through.

Poor Yaz was already upset by the time she got home. He knew what was coming and he was panting and trying to chew through the fence to run away.

Mama brought him in and put his Thundershirt on him.

After spending some time inside with it on he calmed down. He even laid down next to Dad in bed and fell asleep. Mama felt better when he relaxed, but she knew her job wasn't done.

Mama's swag bag was filled with dog stuff (hey! where were all the cat goodies?) so she used it to make Yaz a pet emergency kit. Then she took all of our kits to the basement in case the storm got bad.

Luckily, we didn't have to take cover, but our friends and family in Oklahoma did. Things got bad down there and we're praying for everyone in the storms' path the last couple of days.

If you don't already have a pet emergency kit PLEASE make one. You never know when you'll need it. You can find tips in a previous post on what you should put in one.

Check back with me soon as I post about all of Mama's excitement at this year's BlogPaws!

Who Is Trone?

You've probably seen the posts I've done recently about cool information that Mom got at BlogPaws from Trone Brand Energy. At this point you're probably wondering, "Who is this Trone company?" Well, I'll fill you in!


Trone Brand Energy is one of the largest independent brand communication agencies in the Southeast. They are located in High Point, North Carolina. Trone Brand Energy is a full service marketing firm providing many services including: social media, advertising, design, public relations, and event marketing. They work a great deal with pet-related companies. You are probably familiar many of the companies they worth with. My favorite is GREENIES (but whose isn't?). They also work with PetArmor, Pedigree, Royal Canin, and Nutro, among others.


You can get to know more about Trone Brand Energy by checking out their website at www.tronebrandenergy.com or connecting with them on their Facebook and Twitter pages. You can also see what Trone Brand Energy is doing to work with pet bloggers by checking out Petvocate.com.


Trone Brand Energy is a great company to get to know. I hope you take the time to connect with them!


Mom was compensated by Trone to help them spread the word about the information they gathered. Honestly, this was super-good info and Mom is happy to share it for free!

What Is Important To Pet Blog Readers? More Trone Brand Energy Info!

Okay, last week we talked about who pet blog readers are. Now we need to figure out what is important to them, what they are looking for.


At BlogPaws in Salt Lake City last month, Trone Brand Energy's Amanda LeGaux gave a short presentation about a poll they conducted and came up with some great information to help pet bloggers give their readers what they really want.


Something that is really important to pet blog readers is DESIGN. The layout/design of a blog strongly impacts a reader's willingness to stay and read the content. If it doesn't look good and isn't easy to navigate, a reader will be gone in mere seconds.


Pet blog readers are interested in a broad variety of topics, but two very important ones are HEALTH AND NUTRITION. Now, those are pretty general, so the folks at Trone dug a little deeper. They found six areas that were of specific focus to readers. They are:

• DANGEROUS FOODS
• VETERINARY CARE
• HIP AND JOINT HEALTH
• EMERGENCY CARE
• ELDERLY PET CARE
• HEALTHY TREATING

Those are all great topics, but guess what pet bloggers are focusing on?

• BEHAVIORAL INTERACTION
• HUMAN-PET BOND
• SOCIALIZATION
• ABUSE PREVENTION
• FOOD INGREDIENTS
• PREVENTATIVE CARE

Amanda pointed out that we, as pet bloggers, aren't completely missing the mark. Instead, when we want to write about PREVENTATIVE CARE, we could write specifically about VETERINARY CARE, HIP AND JOINT HEALTH, or ELDERLY PET CARE. If we want to write about FOOD INGREDIENTS, we could focus on DANGEROUS FOODS or HEALTHY TREATING.

I think this is great to know! I love that my anipals and fellow bloggers read my posts, but I would like to share information with the people who are looking for it too! Of course, this doesn't mean that I will (or you should) change my blog focus, but it's important to write an occasional post about a topic readers are looking for. If I can draw in more readers by doing so, maybe they'll stick around and read the other posts I write too!


Wondering about who Trone Brand Energy is? I'll share that with you in an upcoming post too!


Mom was compensated by Trone to help them spread the word about the information they gathered. Honestly, this was super-good info and Mom is happy to share it for free!

BlogPaws 2012 is in the Books!

This was certainly a special BlogPaws conference for Mom. It had only been a week since I went Over the Rainbow Bridge and she was still grieving. She knew that she would still go, because she said it was the best place to be to help heal her broken heart. She got to see old friends and meet others in person for the first time. Every hug got her a little closer to healing.

Me and Deb Barnes hanging out in the Catification Lounge.

Of course, there is more to BlogPaws than just hanging out with friends (but that's still the best part!). Mom saw some wonderful speakers and went to lots of breakout sessions. One of the speakers was Betsy Saul, co-founder of PetFinder.com. She gave a brief history of animal rescue in the United States. She also gave a sad statistic: only 2.5% of lost cats are returned to their owners. That reminded Mom that we still have lots of work to do!


Another speaker was Amanda LeGaux of Trone Brand Energy. She gave a short, but extremely informative, presentation about the kind of information pet owners are looking for on the web. I'll talk more about this presentation in a later blog post.

Amanda giving her presentation. I don't just love her because she sends me GREENIES, she's really nice too!

Mom also got to accept an award for the stunning Cathy Keisha. CK won the Nose-to-Nose award for best Twitter design. Mom was a little nervous ahead of time, thinking about what she would say if CK won, but when the moment happened, she was so excited for CK that she wasn't nervous at all! Concats, CK!

Plush CK and her award.

There was so much that happened during the weekend there is no way I can get it all into one post! Mom would like to say a special thanks to those who helped get her there. First, thank you BlogPaws for the pass that she won during a Twitter party and for paying for the hotel room she shared with Bunny Jean Cook's mom, Vicki Cook. Also, thanks to Trone Brand Energy for paying for her airfare out to Salt Lake City. I'm very grateful that you guys helped her out so she can keep my bloggie going strong!

#MOblogPaws - KC By The Numbers

The gang from ATonksTail.com are back to tell us more reasons BlogPaws should come to Kansas City!


Hi everyone! We're baaaack! Thanks to Sebastian & his mom for letting us guest post on their blog again about one of our fave topics - our hometown.

_________________

Mommy loooves lists, so when she saw this one in the newspaper, she knew she had to share!

Kansas City is popping up on all sorts of national lists and here's where we rank in them:

Top Five

Kansas City was in the top 5 in.... (hit it, Faraday!)

#5 - Most Charity-Conscious City (Charity Navigator)

This is not ranked, as you might think, per capita. Instead, Charity Navigator looked at the financial health of the nonprofits in a city. And KC ranked fifth most healthy!

(That's because we have such big hearts)

#4 - Most Underrated US Cities (shermans-travel.com)

Did you know we house the US's only WW I Museum? We also have an American Jazz Muesum (we *are* the home of 19th & Vine after all) and the Negro League Baseball Muesum, to name a few.

#3 - America's Manliest Cities (Sperling's Best Places)

*puffs out chest* They must have seen my Fabio picture. 'Nuff said.

#2 - Top 10 Cities for Book Lovers (Livability.com)

As kittehs we love this! More lap time! Mommy definitely contributes to this statistic, since she loves to read.

aaaaand......

#1 - Favorite City for Barbecue (Travel + Leisure Magazine)

No really! We didn't make this up! Our city has tons and tons of places filled with the smoky mouth-watering aroma of barbecue. One of our faves is housed in a real live, still working gas station, too. YUM!

*giggle* But wait, there's more!

Other Honorable Mentions:

• 17th Most Literate City (Central Connecticut State University)
  
• 12th Smartest City (Daily Beast)
  
• 14th Best City for Families (Parenting magazine)
  
• 10th Most Affordable Place to Buy a Home (US News & World report)
  
• One of America's Best Ice Cream Cities (Food & Wine Magazine)
  
• 11th Most Frugal City - Hey! You can prolly get a coupon for that ice cream! (coupons.com)
  
• 9th Most Tattooed City - you gotta come over & check out Sebastian's Mom's Cattoo
  
• 2nd Most Drivable City in America (Travel + Leisure)

And we wrap this list up by mentioning something Sebastian's already blogged about:

Frommer's listing KC as a TOP 10 DESTINATION!! Woot!

Now don't you want to come visit us?

Wow! We sure have a lot of top rankings! Thanks again guys for contributing to #MOBlogPaws!

#MOBlogPaws: Delicious Doggie Treats

So far, I've told you about many of the cool things that humans would like about Kansas City. Now I'm going to tell you why the doggies will want to have a BlogPaws conference in Kansas City: KC is home to a gourmet dog bakery, Three Dog Bakery.

The founding bakery is located on the Country Club Plaza, which has been featured in a couple of previous #MOBlogPaws posts. Dogs are always welcome in Three Dog Bakery and are even offered a sample treat when they visit! Three Dog Bakery offers all-natural, baked treats, pastries, and food. Don't worry kitties-they have cat treats too! "We Pity the Kitties" treats come in chicken and salmon flavors.


Three Dog Bakery was started in 1989 by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff and their three dogs, Dottie, Gracie, and Sarah Jean The Biscuit Queen. Mom actually got to meet Sarah Jean! All three dogs have now gone Over The Rainbow Bridge, but their legacy continues. There is even a book about Gracie titled Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale by Dan and Mark.

In order to help not-for-profit rescue groups, the Three Dog Bakery Foundation was created. The company gives up to 1% of its net profits annually to help the Foundation.


There are several locations around the world, but the founding bakery on the Plaza is pretty special. It is the heart of the company and is very warm and welcoming. Three Dog Bakery is a must-see for any dog visiting Kansas City. In fact, every time Mom goes to Wichita, she goes to Three Dog Bakery first and buys treats for Grandpa's dog, Yaz, since he doesn't get to visit them himself. So, start barking doggie pals! Tell your humans you want to come to Kansas City for BlogPaws in 2013!

When you care enough to visit the very best - #MOBlogpaws

We want to thank Sebastian for letting us post again on

one of our favorite topics!

You’re talking about ME right?

No, silly! We’re talking about yet another reason BlogPaws should be hosted in Missouri: it’s the home of one of America’s icons, Hallmark Cards.

Momma’s job is an American icon???

Where she works is! It’s one of the very few privately held third-generation family run companies in the U.S. (Only a third of all family run companies make it to the second generation, and even less to generation #3.)

And it’s a company that’s all about helping people connect with one another and share how they feel. How many companies can claim to do that?

And it’s not just through cards, either. They make ornaments, gifts, interactive storybooks, even TV specials like “Jingle All the Way” (voted by the NY Times as best new holiday TV special)! And it all started from one man’s dream and two shoeboxes of cards hidden under a bed at the YMCA.

We won’t give away the whole story cuz we wants you to come see the fab documentary mommy produced that plays in the Visitor’s Center Theatre here in Kansas City, but Hallmark is a pretty cool part of American history!

And their art collection? Mowzers! Mommy walks past Picassos, Salvadore Dalis & Grandma Moses Originals *every day*!! She knows the curator at the Hallmark Archives & will ask them for a Special Tour just for BlogPaws, if it comes to Kansas City. (included are an entire Tibetan Thai Temple, tons of Illuminated Manuscripts from the 1500s, and loads of other really cool stuff!)

But here's a teaser, with some great pics of Hallmark's international headquarters at Crown Center in Kansas City, also home of Kaleidoscope (a free creative ideation facility for kids) and the soon-to-open LEGO Land and Sea Life Experiences. I think Sebastian plans to tell you more about them in an upcoming blog post, so be on the watch for it.

Master Artist hand lettering a card

Hallmark's Corporate Entrance

Master Artist sculpting an ornament

Hallmark At Night

The hand of the artist - using watercolor

Kaleidoscope: A place kids are invited to be creative & have fun

Visitor's Center & Museum: make your own bow & see fads from the past like paper dresses

Meet Me in St. Louis, BlogPaws!

My pal Maggie is here again this week to share why #BlogPaws should come to Missouri. Take it away Maggie!

Hi all! This is MaggieTKat again writing from the wonderful city of St. Louis, MO. I am joining my buddy SeabassCat to encourage BlogPaws to come to one of the cities in Missouri. St. Louis is truly the Gateway to the west, almost dead center of the United States. There are several interstates that converge in St. Louis: I-44, I-55, I-70, and I-64. I looked up mileage between St. Louis and some cities where bloggers and anipals live. Most of these cities are less than a days’ drive, or so Mom says, and she likes to stop for available litter boxes. Here’s my list:

City                       Miles

Columbus, OH     396

Chicago, IL           263

Oklahoma City, OK           459

Kansas City, MO   238

Denver, CO       796

Madison, WI       310

Atlanta, GA     468

Austin, TX    720

If you don’t want to drive, Lambert International Airport (code STL) is serviced by the following airlines: American, United, Southwest, AirTran, SA3000, Airchoice1, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Cape Air, Continental, Delta, Frontier, and US Air. Amtrak comes from Chicago and Kansas City, and Greyhound goes everywhere.

So, now you know that we are central to everything, a reasonable idea of mileage, and airlines you can take. So, please tell BlogPaws you would like to come to either Kansas City or St. Louis, Missouri! We would love to show you our state. As the song says, “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

Wow, St. Louis sounds pretty drivable! And look at that gorgeous picture of the Arch! Mom has always loved flying into St. Louis and seeing the river below her. Now don't you think we should have #MOBlogPaws?

Kansas City: City of Fountains

When you think of the City of Fountains, you probably think of Rome, right? Well guess what? Kansas City, Missouri is called the City of Fountains, too! In fact, KC has the second most fountains of any city in the world, right behind Rome, Italy. Some say that KC actually has more working fountains than Rome.

Many of Kansas City's fountains are located at the Country Club Plaza. You can read what my pals over at A Tonk's Tail had to say about the Plaza in another #MOBlogPaws post, it's a pawsome spot to visit!

The J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain is the most photographed fountain in the city. The four horses are supposed to represent four rivers: the Mississippi, Volga, Rhine, and Seine.

The Neptune Fountain on the Plaza originally came from England and was installed in 1953.

The Bronze Boar has a sign telling visitors to rub his nose and drop a coin. All the coins go to Children's Mercy Hospital.

The Frog Fountain is located at Zona Rosa, another shopping district in Kansas City.

Some of Mom's favorite fountains are at Kauffman Stadium where the Royals play. Called the Water Spectacular, it is the largest privately owned fountain in the United States.

Although Kansas City, Missouri is known for its fountains, the entire metro area has fountains. This is the Lenexa City Hall Fountain, dyed pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They also dye it green for their annual Spinach Festival! It runs 24 hours a day, even in the winter.

My favorite thing about the KC fountains? The first fountains in Kansas City were designed by the Humane Society so that dogs and horses would have fresh water. Sounds like KCMO has been thinking about its animals for a very long time!

You can learn more about the fountains at the City of Fountains Foundation. Wouldn't you love to visit Kansas City? It would be a great location for a Blog Paws Conference if you ask me!

Bring BlogPaws to Missouri!

Mom has attended two BlogPaws conferences: BlogPaws West in Denver, September 2010 and BlogPaws 2011 in the Washington, D.C. area. The next conference will be in Salt Lake City in 2012. I am now going to start a campaign to bring the 2013 conference to the midwest, specifically Kansas City, Missouri.

J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain, a Kansas City landmark.

I live in the Kansas City metro area, on the Kansas side of the state line. It's a great place and I think it would be the perfect place for a conference like BlogPaws. You might think I'm biased because I live here, but other people think KC is an awesome place too! Check out this article from the September issue of Wild Blue Yonder magazine featuring KC and many of its unique offerings. You'll get to hear more about some of these places in upcoming blog posts (this is a full campaign!) from me, Mom and other local Kansas Citians who love this city passionately.

And there's more! Frommer's recently named Kansas City as a Top Destination for 2012. Why wouldn't the BlogPaws crew want to come to a Top Destination? Not only is it a top destination, it's a convenient destination! We're in the middle of the country, so we're easy to get to, whether it is by flying or driving. According to the website travelnotes.org, from KC to Dallas/Ft. Worth it is about 510 miles. To Denver or Columbus it's about 610 miles. To Chicago it's about 540 miles.

I hope you stay tuned for all of the upcoming posts and I hope you jump on board with team #MoBlogPaws. KCMO has a lot to offer and I would love to share it with all of my blogging buddies!

Anipal Photo Hunt #5: BLOG PAWS

This week's theme for the Anipal Photo Hunt is all about the conference Mom went to last weekend in Denver: Blog Paws! I was so excited for her to go, but I missed her while she was gone. I knew she would get lots of good info while she was there, so I figured it was worth it.

She met some cool anipals while she was there like Cosmo and Pumpkin. She also met Cokie's stand-in. I was just there in spirit! This is the pledge she signed for me to "Be The Change".

Now that Mom is back home, it's time to get back to blogging for the shelter pets looking for their forever homes!

Get your own office chair, Mom, I took this one over while you were gone!

Lovely Luke

Today I am sending Mom off to Denver to attend Blog Paws 2010 West. She's going out there to learn how to improve my bloggie. I can't wait to see what she learns and how we will change things. I'm hoping to be able to tell more happy stories about kitties at Wayside Waifs that have found their forever homes like I did. This is one of those stories!


Luke is a special kitty who did find his forever home recently. When he first arrived at Wayside, his right eye was kind of messed up. The V-E-Ts at Wayside had to remove it, so now he only has one eye.


When Mom met him he wasn't feeling very good and had a yucky tummy. He seemed so grateful to her to have a lap to cuddle in, rather than laying in his kennel on his towel. Mom sat on the floor and he got right in her lap and napped there for the longest time. Soon, Mom had to go home, but she kept thinking about Luke. She worried about his upset tummy and if the right family would come along to give this one-eyed kitty a good home.


Mom didn't have to worry for long though...she checked in with another volunteer a few days later and learned that Luke had been adopted! This makes me want to purr with joy! There are so many kitties in the shelter and some of them are a little different from other kitties or have special needs. I'm glad there are families out there willing to take in all kinds of kitties, even the one-eyed kitties like Luke!

Be The Change

This is my little part of Be The Change. If you're not familiar with Be The Change, check out either blogpaws.com, pawcuious.com, my Mom's blog, bosoxamy.blogspot.com or you can search #bethechange on Twitter. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Great, I'm glad you came back.

As you know, I was adopted from Wayside Waifs back in February. I felt so lucky to meet my Mom there. She was a volunteer who came to cuddle with me. I felt bad for all the other animals who had to stay behind while I got to go to my forever home. I am going to take this opportunity to introduce you to some of the animals who are still there. Mom went to volunteer on Wednesday and I asked her to take some pictures for me. Check out some of the cute critters who are waiting for their forever homes! The slideshow from my Picasa album is playing on the right hand side of the page. If you see somebody you want to adopt, go to waysidewaifs.org to see if the pet is still available.

If you aren't in the market for an addition to your family, maybe you can make a donation instead. Be The Change is supporting Pets Without Parents. You can donate from the widget on my page. It's right above the slideshow.

Thanks for stopping by and remember to be the change you want to see in the world!