Happy Independence Day

Mom just loves Independence Day. She wanted to get married on July 4th, but had to settle for the 3rd instead (Mom and Dad were married 2 years yesterday!).


Mom has always had to worry about pets on the 4th of July though. All of her pets have been terrified of the fireworks, except me. I want to remind all the pet parents out there to be very careful with their pets today. More pets are lost on July 4th than any other day of the year. Even though many humans like the pretty colors and loud booms, it can be terrifying for pets. Here are some things Mom used to do for her pets that were scared:

• Bring the pet inside-If they are confined, they will feel more secure and can't run away.
• Turn on a TV or radio-The sound can help mask the noises from the fireworks, even a fan can help.
• Use a calming collar or Feliway for a cat-Every little thing can help.
• Use a V-E-T prescribed anti-anxiety med or a ThunderShirt-Mom always felt bad about medicating her Oscar, but it was better than seeing him scared.

Please keep your pets safe and secure today!

Who Are Pet Blog Readers?

In the couple of years since Mom started my blog, she has often wondered what to help me post about. She would love to just focus on me. After all, I'm quite a handsome kitty with the most adorable belly ever! That might get a little boring though. Also, I want to spread the word about shelter kitties since I used to be one myself. I like to encourage people to adopt, volunteer, donate, and otherwise help their local shelters.


Here's the deal. Is that what pet people want to read about? Can I just put that stuff out there and hope someone is looking for that kind of information? If not, do I need to give the people what they want and try to sneak in the stuff I want to say? Luckily, Mom got some answers to my questions at BlogPaws 2012 in Salt Lake City recently. (That's why I send her!)


Mom listened to a presentation from Trone Brand Energy by my favorite GREENIES girl, Amanda LeGaux. She shared information gathered in a survey conducted in May 2012 of both pet bloggers and pet owners. Here is some of what that survey revealed:

• 42% of pet owners spend over 30 minutes each week reading/researching pet related topics

The pet owner doing all that online research is generally:

• Female
• Age 40-49
• Married
• No children at home
• Employed at least part-time
• Has a household income of at least $50k
• Is tech savvy

This information probably doesn't surprise you too much. In fact, like Mom, you can probably see yourself in many of these stats.


But where is this pet owner looking for information?

• Books-55%
• Magazines-42%
• General News Websites-39%
• Newspapers-33%

AND

• Blogs-37%

Okay, we know that pet bloggers are important to pet owners. Now what? Now we need to know how to draw pet owners to our blogs with the information they desire. Look for that information in an upcoming post with more handy info from Trone!


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!

Wordless Wednesday: Harvey, the New Cat in Mom's Life

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!

Wordless Wednesday-Angel Sebastian

This Is Not Goodbye

As you probably know by know, I went Over the Rainbow Bridge late last Friday night. I had been very sick for a week, with no explanation as to what was wrong with me.


The previous Friday, Mom and Dad woke up to find that I had a barfisode in the living room. I spent the entire day in bed, only getting up when Dad picked me up and carried my out. I didn't eat at all, drank a little water and used my kitty box once. Mom and Dad thought I just had a tummy ache.


The next morning, Saturday, I was up and around on my own, but moving slowly. I had used my box again during the night. Dad convinced me to eat one of my favorite treats, a small piece of dried salmon, and some Whisker Lickin's treats. I continued to drink water, but never ate my kibble and didn't use my box any more that day.


When Sunday came and I still hadn't perked up, Mom and Dad took my to my V-E-T office, Banfield. I saw a doctor there that I had never seen before. She thought my situation was very dire, possibly hepatic lipidosis, a liver disease. I stayed there while they ran blood work on me. The doctor called Mom right away and said that it instead looked to be diabetic ketoacidosis and that I needed to go to the emergency and specialty hospital right away.


Mom and Dad rushed right back to get me and drove me to Blue Pearl where they were awaiting my arrival. The emergency vet looked me over and looked at the test results from Banfield. She said it was not DKA, because I didn't have any ketones. She didn't know what was going on though. She said I needed to stay so they could take care of me and find out what was wrong.


Over the next week, there were many ups and downs with my care. They kept running tests and ruling out different things, but still couldn't come up with any answers. My body temperature was low, my blood pressure was low, and my glucose was high. They had me on fluids to rehydrate me and get my BP up, however I then started having trouble breathing so they put me in an oxygen bed. Every time they would get one thing under control, something else would happen. I wasn't strong enough to use the litter box, so they put in a catheter. I HATED that thing! It was so uncomfortable.

In the oxygen bed.

Finally, on Friday, the internist who was caring for me told Mom and Dad that they didn't know what else to do for me, but if I was going to stay I needed a feeding tube because I hadn't eaten all week. Dad decided I should go home, thinking I might eat if I was in my home, in comfortable surroundings.

When Dad decided to take me home.

Mom and Dad took me home around 3 PM Friday. They gave me my medicine and syringe fed me a couple of times. I was so weak. I couldn't walk very well and I was having a hard time breathing. I walked to my water fountain to get a drink, but it was so difficult that in between laps of water, I rested my head on the edge of the bowl. Then I made my way to the bathroom where I laid on the tile. Mom felt me and I was very cold. I was uncomfortable, constantly changing positions. I hadn't slept since I had come home. I started to cry a little. Mom was sad to see me like that. She told Dad that I couldn't go on like that and they needed to take me back to Blue Pearl.


I rode in the back seat with Dad while Mom took us for my final car ride. The techs at Blue Pearl had a very hard time getting an IV in my paws because they were so swollen. Finally, they took me back in to Mom and Dad. By then it was shortly before 1 AM. Mom held me on her lap, talked to me, and gave me smoochies. Soon, I felt sleepy, then all the pain was gone. I could sense sadness from Mom and Dad, but I was so happy.


Now I'm at the Rainbow Bridge and things are wonderful! There are nip fields to run in and I can eat all the salmon I want. Mom is so very sad, but I know she'll feel better and one day we'll be together again. Leaving Earth is not goodbye.

Happy Father's Day from the Rainbow Bridge

One of my favorite activities on Earth: Napping with Dad.

I snuck in beside Grandpa for a nap once too.