Oh meowllo. Me was just sittin’ here watchin’ Raena. Let me tell ya’ dat girl has more energy than da energizer bunny. Me knows me told ya’ dat befur, but it’s da truth. She just doesn’t stop. And me knows me’s posty is late, mommy says there’s so many fotos to edit and not enuff time in each day. Mommy did want me to address an email we got regardin’ Raena and da play pen. No, Raena does NOT live in da play pen. She weighed a pound and a half after spendin’ a week in our house and eatin’ some good groceries. She weighed much less when mommy picked her up. She was too tiny to get into da litter boxes and had spent her furst 6 weeks of life in a kitty crate, so even our small apartment was overwhelmin’ fur her. And so fur her purrtection and safety, mommy set up da play pen fur her. Me would never hurt her, but me wasn’t da happiest kitty girl in da world da day she arrived, and mommy had to go up and feed Buddy, so da play pen was da purrfect place fur her. As you can see by da bulk of da fotos, she’s got free reign of our house. We would like to thank you all fur supportin’ us and luvvin’ Raena.
Dat bein’ said, Raena discovered Dougie last night. Me doesn’t think she’s figgered out what he is or dat she ain’t ever gonna be able to get to him. Me’s sure Dougie is hopin’ dat tank is kitten proof. Anyways, mommy’s been tryin’ really hard to get at least one foto of all her “fursts”, but she was laffin’ so hard at Raena pawin’ at Dougie’s tank dat she furgot to take a picture. Let me tell ya’ Raena’s a big camera ham. She luvs havin’ her foto taken. And speakin’ of fursts, mommy has always bought da new kitty a little mousey from da pet store. Several of da pet stores carry this itty bitty mousey dat says, “my first mouse” on it. Well, since we don’t have a pet store here and da one in Ardmore has a bug purroblem so we don’t shop there; then Raena didn’t get her “my first mousey”.
Go play Raena, me’s eatin’.
As you all noticed she is a tiny little thing, so most of our toys are too big fur her. Now don’t get me wrong, she sure ‘nuff tries to play with them, but ifin she ever gets her mouth on somethin’, she can’t move it cuz it’s too big and heavy. So after watchin’ her play dat furst night, mommy sent an email to awnty Ellen of 15 and meowing askin’ her ifin she would make Raena a little toy of her own dat would be Raena sized. Well we received said package da other day, and OMC awnty Ellen sent some of da bestest made with luv toys; and she even made Raena her very own nip mat. Well, da general rule is dat kittens aren’t affected by catnip ‘til they’re ‘bout 6 months or older. So mommy planned to take a couple of fotos of da nip mat and then put it away fur Raena till after she has her big girl surgery.
Of course you all know there’s an exception to every rule. You know there are kittys out there dat don’t even like catnip. Can you believe dat? A kitty not likin’ catnip. Dat has to be a sacrilege of da kitty book of norms. Anyways, sure ‘nuff there are kittys dat never enjoy catnip. But let me tell ya’ dat ain’t RaenaBelle!!! As soon as mommy put dat nip mat down, Raena started goin’ nuts. She scooted ‘round and rolled ‘round till she found da openin’ where da nip be inserted and started droolin’. And then she found da toys and started bunny kickin’ like crazy. Oh me cats she looked so funny. She had those tiny legs just a goin’ to town and rubbin’ her cheeks all over dat toy.
Hey Dezi I thought you was gonna let me tell ‘bout mines new toys. Mommy said dat I could do da tellin’.
Hey Dezi, what’a this paw-mazin’ smell?
Well then get to tellin’ Raena, and don’t furget to say thank you.
This is sooooooo good
Okay. Well guess I oughtta start with dat fank you. Fank you awnty Ellen, I luvs mines new toys and dat nip mat is pawsum. I’s ‘posed to be too young to understand ‘bout this catnip stuffs but let me tell ya’, dat mat and those toys smelled better than mines dinner plate. And dat’s sayin’ somethin’. I got 2 fishys, a ball, a tube and a chicky leg. And I had a blast playin’ last night. Come to think of it, I’s gonna go play right now. Fanks again. Big RaenaBelle hugs comin’ your way.
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Yes, thank you awnty Ellen, those toys will keep her outta me’s fur, at least fur 5 minutes. Well me’s gonna go now and see what mischief me can find.
Till da next time………………………………….Be Blest!!!
Do you (your kitty) like catnip?
Do you (your kitty) purrfur silvervine?
How old were you (your kitty) when you first noticed cat nip affected you?
Meowllo everypawdy, me knows you all are ‘xcited and ready to meet me’s new sisfur, but me is a chatty kitty and so you’re gonna have to hear da whole story okay? Okay. As mommy and me told ya’ yesfurday, we found this little kitty from a newspaper ad. Actually, mommy was callin’ ‘bout a whole different set of kitties, but by da time da lady called us back, those kitties was all gone. Mommy thought we had missed out yet again. But da lady gave us another nummer and told mommy to call cuz they had kitties too. Well mommy called and called and furinally 3 days later somepawdy answered. Mommy got all da infurmation and then we purrayed about it. Da next day mommy called them back and said yes. Of course in da meantime me didn’t really have a clue ‘bout what was goin’ on, so it was life as usual fur this little queen. Okay, maybe me’s not so little, but ‘member, sis Lexi made me da queen when she left. Anyways…
A couple weeks later, Hug Your Cat Caturday to be exact, me’s life was turned upside down. Dat’s right, Hug Your Cat Caturday. Me had plans fur mommy dat was gonna last all day long and into da night, but mommy up and left me late in da afternoon. Can you believe it? Me sure couldn’t. Anyhow, somepawdy came by and picked mommy up so she left me to lounge ‘round da cat tree and snooze. Me had da afternoon off. She was gone fur da longest time. Me’s dinner time came and went and no sign of mommy. Me was beginnin’ to wonder ifin she was gonna leave me to starve, but furinally she showed up. She came in all flustered and rushin’ ‘round and sayin’ she had to go up and feed Buddy real quick and get things all set up here fur da baby.
Baby me thought. What baby? Me loudly meowed dat Buddy could wait and me didn’t want any babies here. Me’s heard purrlenty of ya’ ‘round blogville talk ‘bout da sticky fingers and all these babies have and me doesn’t want any pawrt of dat. Mommy set sis Lexi’s travel carrier on da chair and went about getting da play pen set up. Me calls it sis Lexi’s travel carrier cuz it’s what she used to travel in befur we got da stroller. And lots of ya’ saw her sittin’ in it on our trip home from BlogPaws last year. Well here, let me just show ya’.
Lexi loved to travel
Didn’t she look happy? Dat’s why me calls it sis Lexi’s travel carrier. Anyways, mommy set it in da chair and set up da play pen and…Hey, mommy, why are you puttin’ litter in dat little box?
Well honey the baby can’t reach the big boxes.
Baby? Uh, mommy, sis Lexi’s travel carrier is makin’ noises. What is dat? (Dezi inches over and smells the carrier) YUCK!!!!! Mommy, sis Lexi’s travel carrier smells like pee pee. Did you have a accident or somethin’? Would dat lady not stop and let you go to da human pawdee box?
No honey I didn’t have an accident. It’ll be fine, I’ll explain it all to you later, okay? I’ve got to go feed Buddy and get you some dinner too.
Me doesn’t know ‘bout Buddy mommy, but me’s about to starve to death. You know it’s way passed me’s dinnertime and me hasn’t had anythin’ to eat since those treats right befur you left.
Yes dear I know. Just give me a few more minutes.
Uh, mommy da carrier’s getting’ louder. What is dat? (Dezi runs UTB while mommy finishes setting up the playpen, and then she hears mommy yell from down the hall…)
Alright Sweetie, I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go give Buddy his dinner.(mommy leaves and when she returns in 5 minutes, this is what she saw)
Uh, mommy, what is dat, and why is it in me’s house? Do you know it yelled da whole time you were gone? And dat pee pee smell? It’s dat thing mommy. ( Mommy snaps a photo and then fixes the girls dinner. She sets down Dezi’s plate and then one for the baby)
Yes Dezi, I know. That’s your new sisfur and helper, and my new Service kitty. I’m sorry she yelled the whole time I was gone, I didn’t think she would. She was quiet and peaceful the whole way home. And I’ll give her a bath after she eats some dinner, okay?. She had a bit of a rough start to life like you did baby. She’s never been outside of a cage and she was surrounded by huge dogs that peed everywhere. My nose and eyes were burnin’ and waterin’ after just a few minutes in that house.
Is dat why her eye is all matted and she’s got a snotty nose?
Kind of sweetheart. But don’t worry, she’s gonna be fine. She knew she was gonna be okay a few minutes after we left too. She slept most of the way home. Now I know you need a couple of days to adjust, but I expect you to get a grip soon and help me to start training her to be a good kitty okay Dezi? Dezi?
Hissssssssssssssssss Mommy, tell her to get away from me’s dinner.
Hey, you, get back. Don’t you know what Hissssss means?
Dezi, her name isn’t hey you, it’s RaenaBelle Maycee High.
Oh mommy, you and your names. What are we supposed to call her? Surely you don’t want me to say da whole thing all da time, right?
No baby, we’re gonna call her Raena.
Why mommy? Me knows there’s a reason, so why?
Yes dear there’s a reason. Raena is the shortened form of Raanan which means ‘New Beginnings’. And that’s exactly what she is for us, a new beginning.
Well mommy me’s just not so sure ‘bout all this, but me will give her a chance fur you. And fur all me’s furiends out there wonderin’ zactly how you say her name, it sounds like Ray-nah. Mommy just has to be different. And needless to say we didn’t get a bit of sleep her furst night here and not much da second either. Maybe it wasn’t all her fault, but dat’s a story fur another day. Let me tell ya’ dat girls got a set of lungs on her and she’s a chatty little thing. You think me’s chatty. Hmmpht Me’s got nuthin’ on her. And she’s fearless, and smart and she’s purretty enuff me supposes. Mommy gave her a bath so she don’t stink anymore so there’s dat. She’s got more energy than me’s seen in a while and she doesn’t back down when me threatens her either. Mommy says she’s a lot like me, specially in dat way. And she even tried to give mommy a head massage her second day here.
But mostest ‘purrtantly, she luvs me’s mommy. She wants to be right with mommy everywhere. So maybe she ain’t dat bad after all. She saw da VET on Fursday when me did and she got a clean bill of health. Her eye and nose is somethin’ mommy be watchin’ to make sure it clears up on it’s own as it wasn’t serious enuff fur medicine at this time. She weighs a whole pound and a half and was born on April 21st. She’s a bi-color Ragdoll, but her points aren’t clear enuff to call yet. Mommy says she has flame patch on her ear just like me does. Another story fur another day.
Anyways, there ya’ have it. And this ain’t even half of what happened in da furst week. So me will give ya’ da 411 on how things be goin’ as we go okay? And yes, Raena will be chattin’ it up with ya’ll from time to time so you’ll get to know her too. And we’ll be tellin’ all ‘bout da trainin’ as it happens. Raena’s already finished trainin’ mommy to be crazy about her so, she should do really well when it comes her time to learn. We have no doubts God sent her to us. So whether you believe God did it, or sis Lexi did it, or whatever you choose to believe, we just hope like mommy said yesfurday, dat you all learn to luv her as much as we do. Me’s gotta go now and remind her dat me’s da queen and she’s da princess; and me was here furst.
Meowllo everypawdy, me hopes you all had a pawsum weekend. We did a lot of nothin’. Last week was really busy and hot. Me got lots of sunshine just like da weather guesser said. Da storms are back now, and me actually hung out with mommy a bit this meownin’, thunder boomers and all. Anyways, all dat goin’ and doin’ last week was really stressful and exhaustin’ fur mommy, so when Caturday came we just crashed. But me did tell ya’ dat me had some big news to share with you all so we took a break from our break to paw in.
Drum roll purrlease…
Me finally has a new sisfur. Now me knows you all wanna see her and hear all ‘bout it. And ya’ wanna know her name and ya’ wanna know how we be getting’ along, right? Well…You’ll just have to wait till tomorrow fur all dat. Mommy wanted to have a little say ‘bout some things today, so me told her she could have a paragraph but no more. This is after all me’s bloggy and me’s Blest Sunday posty. Anyways, take it away mommy, but ‘member, keep it short; me has a few more things to say meself.
Hey you there. Who said you could sleep in me’s new cat bed?
Thank you darlin’. As Dezi says all the time, we are truly blest to have all of you in our lives. Since losing Lexi I have been a bit of a mess. And each day that Dezi grieved and had to try to help me by herself I felt guilty that I couldn’t help her or seem to get her help in the form of another kitty. I have always said any cat can be trained to be a Service cat, and I still believe that. But, if you don’t already have a bond with a cat then a kitten is the best choice because they are eager to learn. And they aren’t being taught tricks, they’re being taught how to help me continue to live independently. So our search for Dezi’s helper had only 2 prerequisites, we had to have a female and she had to be a kitten. Nothing else mattered. So each day I would make numerous calls to shelters, and rescues and to any online or printed ads I could find. During our search we “claimed” and applied for numerous kittens, but something would always happen. We lived too far out of the rescues’ adoptable area, we couldn’t afford the adoption fee, we were only adopting 1 and they required 2 when adopting kittens, the kittens were sick, and the worst, the kittens died. And then we found one. But, now we faced a moral dilemma because she was being sold by a backyard breeder. We in no way support these breeders, but they do exist. The State of Oklahoma is full of them.
So we posted our quandary and asked you our friends for advice. I’ve gone back and forth many times over whether or not to address the comments of that post, and well, here it is. After crying many tears I must say I expected much more compassion and understanding for our situation; especially since I was and am still reeling from the loss of Lexi. Since I need the assistance of my service cats everyday, we don’t have an unlimited amount of time to wait for the ‘right’ kitten to show up. And who’s to say the ‘right’ kitten isn’t one from a backyard breeder. The fact is those kittens have been born and now need a forever home just like the ones at shelters and rescues. And just because someone charges upwards of $1000.00 for their kittens doesn’t always make them or their kittens any better than backyard breeders. It’s supposed to, but things don’t always work like they should. And altho I knew I would have to pay an adoption fee, I don’t make anywhere close to a thousand dollars in a month and what I do make has to pay the bills and feed the kitties. Yet another reason I didn’t bother to check with breeders. Everybody calls it adoption these days no matter the charge. And make no mistake, in our part of the world at least, you’re buying that kitty or doggy from a rescue or shelter. With adoption fees ranging from $75.00 to $250.00, they’re not much less than most breeders in our area charge; who often get $250.00 to $450.00 for their “responsibly” bred purebreds. In the end, we prayed about it and saved the life of a beautiful female kitten. And you know what? She is the ‘right’ one for our family. We only hope that you all love her as much as we do. I’ll hush now and turn it back over to Dezi.
Thanks mommy, but you took more than 1 paragraph there. Anyways, me’s gonna be innerducin’ me’s new sisfur to you all tomorrow so me hopes you will stop by fur a visit and welcome her to Blogville. We are so blest to have found her, are are grateful to all of you fur your luv, support and purayers. ‘Member to take a moment today and everyday to count your blessings. Today me’s gonna join da Kitties Blue fur Sunday Selfies. And don’t furget to enter me’s give away fur a pawsum new litter mat here. And me thought you might like to see some fotos of me carefully surveyin’ da newbie her furst night here. Now dat’s a lot of And’s ain’t it?. We’ll be ‘round to visit as soon as we can. Da lights have been flickerin’ but we’s hopin’ da power stays on and da innernet stays up.
Meowllo everypawdy, and a meowsy big welcome to you Furiday. We thought you’d never get here. It sure has been a busy week. Me’s VET ‘pointment went okay. Me got another Rabies vaccination purr da law, so me can be legal fur another year. And nopawdy died of heat stroke from bein’ in da hot car. Ya’ know last year mommy learned dat da compressor fur da a/c is out and somehow da window broke and doesn’t roll down, so mommy tries to avoid goin’ as much as pawssible. But sometimes ya’ just gotta suck it up and go. Hopefully me doesn’t have to see dat office again fur at least another year. We don’t have any cat only offices ‘round here, and yesfurday seemed like every doggy in these pawrts was at da VET waggin’ their tails and slobberin’ on everypawdy. It’s like da doggies are happy to be assaulted, manhandled and poked and prodded. Anyways, me just wanted to give you all an update and say fanks fur da purrayers.
Now, we have a great item to tell ya’ll ‘bout today, and a chance fur one lucky reader to win one of your own. A while back we were contacted by Smiling Paws Pets. They have these great lookin’ Litter Mats dat come in a variety of colors. Let me tell ya’ somethin’ ‘bout litter dat most of ya’ already know; litter tracks. Yep, sure does. Seems every litter we’ve tried tracks. Some less than others, but somehow, bits of cat litter end up outside of the box. So, everypawdy with a litter box in da house, can use a good litter mat. Fur a long time da only mats one could find were in blah gray. And let me tell ya’, they weren’t always soft on da paws. A litter mat’s a lot like litter; ifin kitty won’t step on it, it doesn’t matter how good it is or what a bargain you got, it’s useless.
So after lookin’ over da litter mats at Smiling Paws, we agreed to try one out. Da mat is called: Extra Large Cat Litter Mat. It’s measurements are 35” X 23.5”. Da mat is nice and thick, BPA free, liquid and waterproof with an anti-skid backing; and claims to be easy to clean. Well with large kitties and large litter boxes, dat sounded like da mat fur us. Mommy was so happy they came in different colors. We got da brown so it would match da bathroom décor where da litter boxes reside.
Non-Skid Backing
When da mat arrived it was rolled up and had to be flattened out. No real problems there. We had one corner dat kept wantin’ to curl, so mommy sat it under one of me’s scratchers overnight and it was ready to go da next day. Da mat itself has a cute kitty in one corner and really short pile. As me said, we received da brown and it’s a true chocolate and looks really purretty with a cream colored kitty in da corner. These could also be used as door mats. Once we got it placed by da litter boxes we realized it was a bit smaller than we had expected. But ya’ have to remember, we have da giant litter boxes fur giant kitties.
So did it do da job? Yes, da short pile and thick nature of da mat itself meant it was comfurtable enough fur kitty to walk on and thus meant it would catch any errant litter attached to box exiting paws. As fur cleaning, da mat can be shaken out or vacuumed with da hand held attachments. Fur deep cleaning mommy said she would most likely squirt it down with da water hose. So mommy gave da Smiling Paws Litter Mat 2 thumbs up and me gives it 4 paws up. Smiling Paws Pets also makes a litter box deodorizer.
Now da nice peeps over at Smiling Paws Pets have been kind enough to let me give one of these pawsum litter mats away to one lucky U.S. only reader. Ifin ya’ just can’t wait to see ifin ya’ won and wanna order one yourself, you can get 20% off now through July 20th on their website. Just use da code ‘deziz20’ at da checkout.
Well it’s da weekend, so dat means me’s joinin’ Rascal and Rocco fur da Pet Parade. Me’s gonna wrap it up now and go and take a much needed nap. Me’s got big mews to tell ya’ll next time, so stay tuned. And don’t furget to enter da give away. Befur ya’ click over, leave me a comment and tell me what color you’d like ifin you win.
Give away is open to U.S. residents only. All others may enter and donate if you win to any U.S. resident/shelter/rescue of your choice. Give away is open till 6/18/16. Winner will be notified by e-mail at the conclusion of the contest and must confirm within 24 hours or forfeit prize.
Do you have a preference for short or tall pile in a litter mat?
This is a sponsored post. We received compensation for our honest and fair opinion. All opinions are our own. Smiling Paws Pets is not responsible for the content of this post. As always we only share products we use or have tried ourselves and think would be of interest to you our readers and friends.
Service Cats U.S. 