MeOW C’mon RaenaBelle, it’s Blest Sunday. Time to count our Blessings. And, since it’s also December, me thought it would be pawsum to bring back the Blessing Train fur our countdown to Christmas. Our sweet furiend Valentine said he would join us. Last year we counted down 12 days of Christmas; but there’s so much goin’ on ‘round the blogospere and the real world so me thought this year we would just run the train on Sundays. And…
Yeah sissy, I’s so x’cited. Anypawdy who wants to join up can post any days they wish, and each Sunday, we’ll add their car to ours. I’s would luvs it ifin we could make the Blessing Train go ‘round the world.
Me too Raena. To join the Blessing Train, all you have to do is post your Blessings. You know, whatever you’re grateful/Thankful fur and leave the link to your posty in the comments of our Blest Sunday postys. You can post as manyBlessings as you want or just once this month. And each Sunday, we’ll post your link along with your Blessing Train car so others can enjoy the ride. You’ll find your box car below. You can decorate it any way you want. You may also take any of the train fotos you’d like fur your own posty.
Oh sissy, this is gonna be so much fun.
Yep Raena, me luvs it when our furiends get together to celebrate. Meowin’ of celebrations, we oughtta celebrate the fact that mommy’s feelin’ better. She even helped me with me’s audition tape fur the cat scouts choir. It’s a wonder we got anythin’ done what with you all up in her face and stuffs.
I’s just wanted to be in the recordin’ too sissy. Ya’ll looked so funny with your headfones on singin’ along to nuffin’. Least it sounded like nuffin’ from where I’s sat. I’s finally got close enuff to the headfones to hear the music. It was kind’a like one of those recordin’ studios I’s see on tv, x’cept it was right here on the ranch (our apartment).
When was that Raena? When you head butted the microphone or bit mommy’s nose? Anyways, in spite of all the furry inneruptions, we got me’s audition finished. We even had enuff time to check out some tracks fur mommy to record. Last time, we got some requests fur mommy to sing some country songs. Long ago in another life, mommy sang with several different bands. Things have changed a lot since then. But, we’ve picked out a few songs that we think everypawdy will like and we’re even addin’ a fun Christmas song. We’ll be postin’ those fur ya’ soon.
Does that mean more singin’ with the funny headfones sissy?
Me isn’t sure how mommy’s gonna do it yet Raena, but whatever she does, it’s bound to fun. Me will say, mommy’s old country, but ifin ya’ have any requests, she’ll try to sing ‘em; just let us know in the comments below.
Mommy can sing anythin’, sissy. I’s luvs it when she sings to us. It makes me feel all warm and purry inside.
Me too Raena. Well, me thinks we oughtta get the Blessing Train fired up. We also wanna fank awnty Susan fur her gifty. And me wants to fank all of you who sent green papers fur me’s Birthday/Gotchaday. Mommy says me’s gift should be here tomorrow. Me can’t hardly wait.
Me either sissy. But, that’s not our Blessing fur the Train this week. Today, we’re givin’ Fanks fur all our pawsum furiends. All of you have made our lives so much better.
Here’s a box car fur you to take and decorate any way you wish to add to
your posty. We’ll then add your boxcar to the train fur next week.
Yep Raena, furiends are one of the greatest gifts one can have. As we do each week, we’d like to remind you to take a minute today and every day to Give Thanks fur the Blessings in your lives and Thank you fur bein’ Blessings in ours.
I’s gonna link us up with the Kitties Blue fur Sunday Selfies and then what do ya’ say we help mommy record some songs sissy?
MeOW and welcome to an unService Cat Monday on Service Cat Monday. Which, due to technical difficulties beyond our control is wayyyyyyyy late. Now that was a mouthful wasn’t it? Anyways, fur mommy’s sanity and to furee up some time, Service Cat Monday question and answer and Training tips will resume in the new year. Altho’ mommy did say that our posty today could actually qualify as a Service Cat Monday posty. So, fur that reason, the followin’ will be in human English fur reader and translator ease. Actually, mommy will be doin’ most of this posty herself. But, you know Raena and me have to have our own meows ‘bout everythin’, so we’ll be includin’ our 2 cents too. Fur now, mommy, take it away.
Disclaimer: This is a Sponsored post. We received the Litter Robot Open Air III in exchange for our honest opinion. As always, we tell it like we see it and only bring products we feel would be of interest to you, our readers and friends.
Thank you baby. As you all know this blog is all about the girls. And, as special as they are, there are still things they can’t do and require a human touch. Most of you know that I’m disabled and need help with a few things. Let me give you a little back story before we proceed. Dezi came to me as a very sick little girl at the age of 2 1/2 – 3 weeks old. She had one of the worst cases of tape worm I’d ever seen in a kitten her size. And, with all that baby fine fur, the diarrhea, and the worms exiting her little body were constantly getting stuck to her bloomers. My response was to clean the litter box and her every time she exited. I must say, it was definitely the right thing to do, but it had lasting consequences. Long after the worms and diarrhea were gone, Dezi expected me to clean the litter box the minute it got used. As far as she’s concerned, we could have 10 boxes and she would still want the one that was used to be cleaned.
When you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense. I mean, would you want to use a toilet that hadn’t been flushed after it’s last “visitor”? So, as much of a chore scooping might be, I didn’t really give it a second thought. But, c’mon now, all of us kitty parents know the litter box is probably our least favorite thing about being owned by cats. As I get older and my health declines, scooping at certain times of the day gets more difficult. And with the wheelchair broken, getting to the box first thing in the morning is almost impossible. That brings us to today’s topic, Automated Litter Boxes. If you missed our post about Litter Boxes, Litter and Feline Urinary habits, you can catch up by clicking here.
Yep, that’s the right litter this time mommy.
Automated litter boxes have been around for quite some time now. So, I began my search for the “purrfect” automated box that could meet all the needs the girls have and still work for me and my budget and ideals. Ideals being no clay litters. As a Vet Tech I’d seen too many kitties come in with blockages from clay litter, to be comfortable using it especially with long haired cats that get it stuck to their bloomers. That right there, made it almost impossible for us to use one of those automated raking systems. Not to mention the actual box size available for kitty to do their business. But, today’s not about the “bads” of certain boxes, but rather the good and bad of the automated litter box we chose.
After much research, reading reviews, watching videos, and studying how and why the equipment works, we decided on the Litter Robot Open Air III. Now I’ll be honest, it wasn’t until I could actually see a video up close that I decided this was a good product. My initial thoughts were that the litter must end up in the top of the box since it rotates around to empty itself. With that thought, I couldn’t imagine why any cat would want to use it. After all, how would you feel if somebody pee’d or worse on your ceiling and you had to sit under that smell when you went to the bathroom? Thankfully, that’s not the case at all. you’ll see in the video below that the roof of the box stays free of dirty litter and smell. Before we get to the video, let me tell you what we were looking for in an automated litter box.
Covered: Raena occasionally still tries to swat Dezi’s tail when she’s in the litter box, so we have to have a covered litter box for privacy issues.
Size: Dezi is a large cat and Raena will be, so they need plenty of room to get in, turn around, stand, squat, dig and exit.
Works with almost any Litter: I’m not changing my mind and using clay litter, so the box we choose must allow for the litter we currently use: Swheatscoop and/or Garfield.
No Continued Expenses’ beyond electricity and inexpensive filters: Being on a fixed income means I can’t afford to by additional expensive boxes, special bags or trays.
Night Light: Yes I Know it sounds silly, but something happened to Dezi when our apartment flooded and she won’t go to the litter box in the dark.
Easy to Use: The girls must be able to enter and exit with ease.
Easy to Clean: Even the cleanest of kitties and “dustless” litter can eventually get any box a little dirty. But, due to my disabilities, handling and cleaning the size box the girls require must be easy.
Safe: The girls can sometimes get a little dig crazy and curious, so I don’t want anything around that could hurt or cut them.
Flexible Timer: Since Dezi will often pee and then need to poo almost immediately after, we need to be able to set a shorter timer than the traditional 15 minutes.
The Litter Robot Open Air III meets all our needs. If I had to say something negative, it would be about the Control Panel. As most of you know, the girls are Service Cats, and as such they are trained to turn on and off certain equipment. And, as a lot of you may recall, Raena’s been turning on all the power toys since she was about 8 weeks old. So, if I could, I would probably have a small door of some kind covering the buttons on the Control Panel. The thing is, there probably aren’t many other cats out there pressing the cycle button besides Raena; so I can’t really fault the Litter Robot peeps for not thinking about that.
They recently launched the Litter Robot Open Air Connect. If you already own a Litter Robot Open Air, you can purchase the upgrade equipment and install it yourself without voiding any warranty you may have or having to purchase a whole new system. The app connects your Litter Robot to your Apple iphone or ipad and allows you to monitor the waste drawer levels, usage and you could even trigger it to cycle if you have a kitty like Dezi that just peed and now needs to poo and can’t wait the 3 minutes.
The Litter Robot Open Air III sells for $449.00, with the Connect upgrade it’s $499.00. Trust me, I realize that’s a lot of money. I don’t make this recommendation lightly. But, after all the research I’ve done, and after having the unit in our home, I must say, the Litter Robot is worth every penny. The company sells replacement parts for the entire unit, so that you can replace only what may break or wear out in the future. They do sell reconditioned parts and units as well, so that may be another avenue to consider. Yes, it’s an investment, but, aren’t your cats worth it? Aren’t you worth it? As cat owners, most of us scoop the litter box without even thinking about it, but it’s really nice not having too. I definitely give the Litter Robot Open Air III 2 thumbs up. I’ll let the girls tell you how they feel.
Fanks mommy. Me luvs PB. It’s pawsum to always have a clean pawtty no matter the time of day or what you might be doin’. It’s an all paws up from me.
Is it mine’s turn now? Well it’s a bout time. I’s luvs, luvs, luvs PB the Litter Robot. I’s luvs to ride the rim sometimes. It’s so much fun. I’s still tryin’ to figger out how to make sissy go ‘round and ‘round like a ferris wheel. Fur some reason, it won’t cycle with her in it?. Other than that, I’s give it 4 paws up too.
(Dezi shakes head.) That’s a safety feature Raena. Fankfully, PB has better sense than you do. Cuz guess who’d be getting’ the whacky paw ifin you did send me ‘round and ‘round?. Anyways, we sure are glad PB’s working in our house. Ifin ya’ have any questions, thoughts or comments, purrlease leave ‘em in the comments section. And, any purchases thru the links in our posty mean we make a few green papers. Our Blessin’ today fur the Blessing Train is Health. We have been blest with good health. Yeah Raena’s eyes might be a bit purroblematic, but overall she’s healthy and we’re both happy.
Hurry Raena, we’ve gotta write our Blest Sunday posty. Mommy has to go.
I’s not like it, sissy, I’s not like it one bit. Just how does she think she’s gonna manage without us?
Me doesn’t know, Raena. She’s never done this befur. Least not in me’s life time. Me ‘members sis Lexi used to meow ‘bout it, but that was a long time ago. All me knows is that mommy said she needed to try to do this. She never wants us to be in a pawsition to run outta noms ever again. And she wants to be able to take you to the V E T to find out what’s wrong with your eyes without havin’ to worry ‘bout what it’s gonna cost or ifin she’s gonna be able to affurd it. She said it isn’t like it’s furever, it’s just a few weeks.
A few? I’s thought she said 6 weeks?!! Doesn’t matter, I’s just don’t like it.
Well Raena, me’s not to happy ‘bout it either, but mommy always knows what’s bestest. She says she needs to at least try, so me thinks we should be suppurrtive. After all, standin’ in a cold barn fur 6 hours pickin’ the yucks outta pecans that she happens to be ‘lergic to, on a conveyor belt doesn’t sound like somethin’ mommy would do fur fun. It’s not like she’s goin’ out to that farm to play with the cows and horses.
I’s guess you’re right sissy. We better be on our bestest behavior and say lots of extra purrayers fur mommy. Meowin’ of purrayers, we’ve been sayin’ extras fur all our furiends lately. We know this time of year can really be hard on some, and we’ve been askin’ God to be sure and let everypawdy know how much they are luvved and that we’re here fur ‘em. The song below actually happens here more than ya’ might think, so we thought we’d share it with ya’. At least one of ya’ needed to hear this today.
We have at that Raena. You know we thought it was gonna be a purretty bare Christmas this year. And then, outta nowhere, we received some purretty amazin’ blessings. Awnty Cindy and her brofur uncle Marshall and the kitties sent mommy, and us of course, a nice big roast and butter fur butter spoons, and, cheese and hawaiin bread, mommy’s coffee, those chocolaty chippy brownies and even a gift fur mommy. Fank ya’ll so very much. We can’t wait fur mommy to cook up that tasty roast.
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And, the very next day sissy, we got a box from that yummy Pittman Davis company that has those tasty turkey tom lurkeys. fanky fanks to LouLou, awnty Suzanne and uncle Don, we’re havin’ smoked turkey fur Christmas.
Can we cook him now mommy?
(Dezi licks lips) And fur days after too Raena. Me can’t hardly wait. Me can still ‘member the one they sent us last year. Mmmmmmmm We are so very blest.
Yep sissy, mommy spent most of the week cryin’ those happy tears.
Yeah Raena, that’s our mommy. She’s a very emotional peep. That’s okay, we’re purretty emotional too. We wanna remind everypawdy to take a minute today and every day to give thanks fur the Blessings in your life. There’s still time to hop on the Blessing Train fur our 12 Days of Blessings. Altho’ we’re not so sure it’s a blessing yet, we’re fankin’ God fur the oppurrtinutiy mommy got to make a few dollars. So, our blessing today is Opportunity. Mommy says, when oppurrtunity knocks, ya’ gotta answer.
Don’t furget, we’re also linkin’ up with the Kitties Blue fur Sunday Selfies, sissy. And with mommy bein’ gone, we’ll have to visit when we can. Hopefully, she’ll be able to help us some when she gets home. She’s leavin’ us here cuz she says it’s not fair to make us sit out in the cold all day when there’ll be so many peeps ‘round that could help her ifin she needs it. Hmmmpht They can’t alert, I’s say.
Raena!!! Be nice. Fank you all fur your luv and furiendship. We’ll be ‘round to visit soon.
Hey, is anypawdy out there? It’s me, RaenaBelle. It’s been really crazy ‘round here this week. Well, at least fur mommy. I’s been takin’ a lot of naps. I’s get tired watchin’ mommy run ‘round like a chicken with her head cut off.
RaenaBelle!!! That’s not very nice.
Maybe not sissy, but you know it’s the truth. We’ve not been able to visit our furiends and meow at ‘em. Nor have we gotten to go out and look at all the Christmas lights. And we fur sure haven’t even got to write our letters to that Santa Paws guy yet. I’s thinkin’ mommy’s too busy. We need to teach her how to relax.
You may be right Raena, but me doesn’t think anypawdy could teach mommy to relax. Ya’ know a doctor told her once that she was missin’ the relax gene. Anyways, mommy said we could write our letters next week and there’d be purrlenty of time. We’ve got to get our Christmas cards out this weekend. And, since we can’t go to the nursin’ home this year, we’re thinkin’ ‘bout makin’ a carolin’ video fur our bloggy. Ifin mommy can figger it all out that is.
I’s have faith she will, sissy. After all, isn’t that what this season’s all ‘bout…Faith?
Partly Raena. But that’s good enuff. Me will have faith with ya’. Me knows we’ve got some great reviews comin’ up fur everypawdy. We’re gonna even let mommy tell peeps ‘bout our new spaceship next week.
Spaceship! What spaceship?
Ya’ know, PB, our new pawtty box.
Oh Cool. I’s luvs PB, don’t you?
Save it fur the review Raena. In the meantime, we’ve got another Blessin’ fur the Blessing Train and our 12 Days of Blessings. Altho’ it’s turned cold and mostly dismal outside, the sun still shines down upon us. We’ve been given another day to live and spread joy. Every breath we take is the Blessing of life. One fur which we are most grateful. Havin’ such scary and unsure beginnings, we have been Blest with a most wonderful life.
You’re so right sissy. Life’s not always purrfect, and we don’t always have everythin’ we want. But, we have everythin’ we need. We hope you all will jump on the Blessing Train with us and share your Blessings this holiday season. We purromiss to be ‘round to visit as soon as we can. Mommy’s purromissed to get unbusy and help us soon.
Here’s a box car fur you to take and decorate any way you wish to add to 
Service Cats U.S. 