Wordless Wednesday-Watching TV

Joplin, Missouri Tornado

There has been some really bad weather this Spring, anipals. Last night was yet another round. A tornado hit Joplin, MO and did severe damage. At this time, 89 people have been reported dead and there's still lots of searching to be done. People are looking for friends, family and of course, pets.

My former home, Wayside Waifs, here in Kansas City sent a team down to Joplin today to assist with the rescue of animals who have been affected by this terrible disaster. They will probably be bringing back animals from the Joplin Humane Society. One way for people to communicate about lost and found pets in the Joplin area is by a Facebook page called Animals Lost & Found from the Joplin, Mo tornado. You can also follow what Wayside is doing in the Joplin area on their Facebook page. They have posted some pictures of the load-up this morning.

If you would like to donate to Wayside to assist in the care of these rescued pets, you can do so online at their donation page. As always, we will be keeping the people and pets of Joplin in the #pawcircle and purraying that families are reunited with their two- and four-legged members.

UPDATE: Find My Animal is offering their service for FREE to residents of Joplin.

UPDATE: Today (5/23/11) Wayside Waifs brought back 25 dogs that were already up for adoption at the Joplin Humane Society to make room for incoming animals. Wayside will be going back tomorrow to further assist with displaced pets.

Photo Sa-Furry Wrap Up

Yesterday was a big day for Wayside Waifs; they held their annual Fur Ball fundraiser at the Overland Park Convention Center. Volunteers transformed the event space into the theme of "Photo Sa-Furry". For details on the prep work that went into the event, check out my pal Ryker's blog post "What's All The Excitement About?"

Fur Ball is more than a fundraiser-it's a super fun party for all the animal loving humans across the Kansas City metro area. And let me tell you, "party animals" is the correct term for the people who came out to support Wayside! They went all out with their outfits for the night, taking the theme of "Photo Sa-Furry" to its limits!


There were games, a silent auction and even an area where you could hang out with some cute puppies!

After dinner, there was a live auction, then a dance. (I'm glad I wasn't there for that part, I have two left feet! MOL)

A lot of organization went into the event and many people helped to make it run smoothly. All too soon, it was over.
I'm sure a lot of money was raised to take care of the Waifs! Be sure to watch Wayside's site to find out how successful the night was.

National Hairball Awareness Day

Today is National Hairball Awareness Day, but guess what? I've never hacked one of those up! I get regular grooming from Dad, so when I take a bath I'm not ingesting all of that loose hair.



Mom had two different tools she used on me before Dad moved in: a brush and a de-shedding comb. They did an okay job, but when we got the FURminator we realized how much better it could be! Dad gets a TON of hair out of me now-way more than he ever did with the other tools. Not only that, but he likes to brag about how much softer my coat is. Mom even said it was shinier! I was a handsome man-cat before the FURminator...can you imagine how attractive I'm going to be to the lady-cats now??



Check out this cool creature Mom and Dad made out of my FURminated hair.

Her name is Ellie because she looks like an elephant! MOL! Mom is so silly!

In honor of National Hairball Awareness Day, everybody should get their humans to give them a good brushing with whatever grooming tools you might have. Nobody likes coughing up a wad of fur, so do what you can to prevent it from happening!

I recieved a free FURminator deSHEDDING tool, but the opinions in this blog are my true and honest feelings about the product and were not influenced by receiving the product for free.

Blog Hoppin'! Shelter Pet of the Week

My friend Shilo over at The Shelter Dog's Blog has started a blog hop to promote shelter pets. Well, you all know how important that is to me! I just had to join in! My shelter pet of the week is Sebastian. No, no, not me. This is another kitty named Sebastian. He is available at Wayside Waifs. His old owner had to give him up because of her allergies. He is front declawed, so he must be an indoor cat. Mom says he's really sweet and of course she loves his name! I hope you take the time to check out Shilo's blog and maybe even join the hop yourself!

Voicing My Opinion on Declawing

This post takes a more serious turn than my other recent posts. I want to discuss the act of declawing a cat. In case you don't know, I am front declawed. I was already declawed when Mom adopted me and we don't know when I had the surgery. I don't have any problems walking or scratching in my litter box, but I do tend to put the bitey on Mom and Dad quite often. That may be a result of my being declawed-we just don't know.

Here's the deal. Declawing is a very controversial procedure. Mom has done a lot of reading and is finding a lot of conflicting facts. She finds numerous websites that are against declawing. They show diagrams of what occurs during the declawing procedure (the technical term is onychectomy), pictures of paws that have just been through the procedure and contain anecdotal evidence of the negative impact declawing has on a cat. It goes without saying that a declawed cat has lost one of its primary means of defense. There are also claims that declawed cats have increased biting behaviors, possibly to replace the loss of the use of their claws. Sometimes a cat who has been declawed will develop an aversion to the litter box, presumably because they find it painful to dig or scratch in litter after the procedure.

Other websites, like the American Veterinary Medical Association, say that there is no evidence proving that declawed cats have these behavioral abnormalities. You can see what they have to say in their statement regarding the declawing of domestic cats. They do say, however, that declawing should only happen only after other means of preventing destructive behavior have been exhausted and the owner is fully educated about the procedure. The same type of stance is taken by the American Animal Hospital Association in this statement.

I will let you make your own decisions about the validity of the information out there. Mom made up her mind definitively, not after reading all of these differing opinions, but after she met Tigger at Wayside Waifs Wednesday evening.

He's a seven year old orange tabby who was begging for attention. He's got quite a voice on him! Mom talked to him and gave him some treats, then she noticed he was holding up his left front paw. She thought he was hurt until he put it down. Then, he picked up his other paw in the same fashion. She took a closer look and was horrified at what she saw.

Tigger is front declawed and both of his front paws are deformed. They look like they have just been mangled and it is obvious that he is in pain when he stands on them. Mom follows Declawing CrippledmyPaws on Facebook, but holding this boy in her arms made the horrors real.

Please think about Tigger before declawing a cat. There are so many alternatives that don't involve amputation of the toes at the last joint. You can trim your cat's nails, give it scratching posts or use Soft Paws (or other similar nail caps). A cat shouldn't be subjected to the pain and possible deformation declawing can cause.

By the way, Tigger is waiting for his forever home at Wayside Waifs! If you have love to give to a kitty, Tigger is ready to give love back!

You can also check out my pal Ryker's blog where his Mom also posted about Tigger.

National Pet Dental Health Month

Here we are, the last day of February, which is National Pet Dental Health Month. You all know how I love my Greenies! The nice people at Greenies sent me a message about National Pet Dental Health Month, the American Animal Hospital Association's (AAHA) Helping Pets Fund and the Veterinary Oral Health Council (VOHC). The VOHC is similar to the American Dental Association, but for pets. If you see their seal on a pet dental health product, you know it's been proven effective at breaking down plaque and tartar from your pet's teeth.

AAHA's Helping Pets Fund is a charitable organization that provides financial support for sick or injured pets who need veterinary care. Greenies and AAHA are teaming up to raise awareness about pet dental health and to raise money for the Helping Pets Fund. To help their effort, I want to tell you my dental health story.

I had a routine dental cleaning last year. Everything turned out fine with my pearly whites. Mom would occasionally brush my teeth, but I hated to have it done, so she didn't do it very often. I got my Feline Greenies dental treats every day, but that was about it as far as caring for my teeth.

Today I went in for another annual dental cleaning. Things didn't turn out quite as good as they did last year. The V-E-T had to pull five of my toofers!! Mom is feeling pretty bad that she didn't brush my teeth more often. Look at what I went through today:

First off, I was deprived of food all night long.

No matter how I begged this morning, Mom wouldn't feed me.

This is the last picture of my full smile.

Soon I was loaded up into the dreaded cat carrier.

When I finally made it home 11 hours later, I had a shaved patch on my leg where they stuck the medicine.

Please make sure your humans are taking care of your toofers! Have your regular dental cleanings, but look for products with the VOHC seal on them too!