Panda Bear dived inside once Dad got the package opened.

Panda Bear opened the card and read it to us.

Look at all the wonderful presents!

Sunny sniffed the presents in the pretty blue wrapping paper.

Panda Bear is REALLY into nip!

He’s even licking nip flakes off the lid!

When Panda Bear gets really excited, he claws the carpet with gusto! That’s the effect nip has on him.

My sister Cookie sniffed the cute little mousies! We have been carrying those around and practicing our Mouse Patrol techniques with them!

We loves Temptations! Thanks for sending us Fishy Flavors! Meerkat is asking for more. Nom nom nom …

Thank you so much for sending us The Red Dot Maker! It is the one toy that gets all of us moving! Meerkat is stretching out to smack The Red Dot.

Mom put all the presents on the table and took a photo of them all together! We can’t wait for Mom to start that cat grass growing! We ate the Purina One Turkey yesterday! Mom loves the dove pin, jingle bells, and the yummy chocolates! What a generous gift!

Meerkat claimed the box! (The rest of us are a little too “well-endowed” to fit inside the box.)

Even Senior Catizen Padre got off his Gizzy Quilt to join in and play The Red Dot! Padre says Thank You!

My sister Cookie is really into wrapping paper. She likes to lie on it, play with it, and nap on it. Cookie says Thank You!

Sky says Thank You! (Especially for the Temptations.)

Sunny says Thank You!

Panda Bear says Thank You! (Especially for the Nip!!!)

On behalf of The Furry Bambinos, I say Thank You!!!

What a terrific present!!!

A huge Thank You to Mom Paula, Truffle, and Brulee for coordinating Secret Paws!!!

Mommy and Daddy had a great time at BlogPaws. They saw some furriends Mommy met last year like Carol 0f Coffee, Cats n’ Yarn and Teri of Curlz and Swirlz.  Flat Panda Bear got created at the Flat Tyler session, and is featured in many photos.

Karen (AKA The Food Lady) was there too! LOVE the glasses!

Pictured below are Karen of MouseBreath (AKA The Food Lady), Mom, Nancy (Mr. R.W. Emerson’s Mommie), Flat Skeezix, Flat Mao, Flat Mr. R.W. Emerson, and Flat Panda Bear.

We love Brighton’s outfit! Teri’s shirt is really cool too!

Coco is a very pretty kitty!

Mommy and Daddy sat with the BlogPaws photographer, Brad Smith (left) for Saturday dinner. Daddy is wearing The Furry Bambinos shirt.

We Furry Bambinos stayed home, but Louisa the Foster Kitten went along.  Here she is with Carol of Coffee, Cats n’ Yarn.

And the Very Handsome Moshe Moshi, one of Carol’s Naked Kidz from Coffee Cats n’ Yarn:

Louisa got to sample many laps during the conference! Louisa napped on Desiree’s lap in two different sessions!

Napping with Desiree again:

Louisa also got to be held by lots of friendly cat people. This is Rebecca, one of the BlogPaws staffers:

Claire from the Sheraton registration desk really enjoyed getting to meet Louisa.

Check out this little cutie! This is Snotface! He attended BlogPaws with his person, Stephanie.

Mom and Stephanie introduced Louisa the Foster Kitten and Snotface. Unfortunately, Louisa was not sure what to make of a ferret, and was not on her best behavior. We sincerely hope that Stephanie and Snotface were not offended.

Next, Louisa seems to be in a better mood, with Susan Getgood of Blog Her.

And here Louisa is pictured with one of the PetSmart representatives.

Mom and Dad met Caren Gittleman, of Cat Chat with Caren & Cody.  Louisa enjoyed meeting Caren at the Flat Tyler workshop, where Flat Panda Bear was created, with the help of Bev Van Zant of My Flat Pet: The Adventures of Flat Tyler.

They also met Deborah Barnes, of Zee & Zoey’s Chronicle Connection blog, and author of the soon-to-be-published book “The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey”! Louisa enjoyed sitting in Deb’s lap, too.

On Sunday morning, Mom, Dad, and Flat Panda Bear chatted with Guido the Italian Cat’s Mom Judi, Dusty Rainbolt (VP Media & Communications for Adopt A Shelter and author of Cat Wrangling Made Easy, Kittens for Dummies, and others), and Janea Kelley, Webmaster of Paws and Effect.

More about BlogPaws next time!  And catching up reading and commenting, too!

We started our Birthday by hunting together.

Sunny patted this little guy a few times to see what he would do.

He just kept inching his way across the carpet while we watched.

He took so long to get anywhere that we sat down and got comfortable.

Mommy picked up our inchworm prey friend and let him loose outside. Bye, Birthday Bug! (Click to biggify.)

Next, we shared some cereal milk from Mommy’s cereal dish.

Even Panda Bear enjoyed some cereal milk.

Panda Bear is the one who taught us about cereal milk!

I had some crunchies after the milk.

Our big birthday present was for dinner: Real Live Fresh Dead Chicken Boobs!

Daddy cut it up for us to share with the other Furry Bambinos.

Sunny says, “Hurry, cut faster!”

I said, “I’m hungry!”

Finally, all cut up!

Mmm mmm good!!

Yum yum yum!

Panda Bear enjoyed the RLFDCB!

So did Padre!

Miss Floofs (Caramel) sneaked some RLFDCB from my dish while Mommy was serving …

So, Sunny and I ate the leftovers from Caramel’s and Cookie’s dishes!

Mommy will be making a donation of approximately $100 to the Cleveland Animal Protective League (APL). In addition, Mommy works for a company that matches donations, so that means the Cleveland APL will get $200 total!!! The Cleveland APL is a nonprofit humane society located in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to providing shelter to cats, kittens, dogs, and puppies waiting to be adopted, the Cleveland APL also provides low cost spay and neuter services, as well as sponsoring a Trap Neuter Return (TNR) program for feral cats in the Cleveland area. It is where most PAWS kitties, including us, have their ladygardenectomy or hoohaectomy surgery done.

Thank you efurryone!!!

The first night we trapped 7 cats on Sunday May 15. They had surgery on Monday, May 16, and recovered overnight in my friend Diane’s Mom’s garage. That night, Monday, May 16, we trapped 5 more cats. Their surgery was on Tuesday, May 17. The last three cats were trapped on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning.

To make things “less complicated”, Diane’s Mom wanted to trap all the cats before releasing any of them so we wouldn’t have to figure out who was who. The problem with this plan was that the feral cats were returned after surgery in cat carriers, with the idea of being released very soon, not in a day or two. So Diane’s Mom cleaned the cat carriers and transferred the cats from a used carrier to a clean one.

One of the feral cats got loose in the garage during one of the transfers.

On Wednesday night, instead of releasing the first 12 cats back into their home territory, we had 11. Believe me, we tried to convince the missing cat to join his brethren for the Big Return. We searched all over the garage (which I have to say, is the CLEANEST garage I have ever seen), but there was no sign of him. So I suggested that he *might* be inside Diane’s sister’s car which was parked in the garage.

Sure enough, there he was, sitting on the engine block. He was so startled to see us, and we were so startled to see him, that we all froze for an instant. Before I could scruff him, he disappeared down into the engine. I donned a pair of gardening gloves, and reached in, trying to scruff the guy. He was so bony and at a weird angle, that all I could feel was his shoulder blades.

And then I felt his teeth, when he turned around and bit me.

OK then. Plan Q: we would set a trap for him and hope he would be hungry enough to get trapped again so we could return him back home. We waited around awhile, but he was not budging from the innards of the car.

We loaded up the other 11 cats in our cars and headed back to their home. Of course, it was cold, windy, and it started raining as soon as we stepped out of the cars with the cats. We carried the cats into the back yard (squish squish squish through the muddy grass), and set the carriers down on the patio.

We unlatched the doors, and swung them wide open.

Free at last!

Free at last!

All but one of the cats shot out and took off headed back to safety of their thicket of shrubs. David carried that carrier closer to the thicket and then the cat sped out and joined his buds. Diane’s Mom returned the other four kittehs to their home a few days later, including Engine Kitty, who did get trapped overnight inside the garage.

Despite all the logistics, the cold, the rain, the dark, and the exhaustion, it felt so good to know that these cats will not be reproducing. They will be healthier, and will no longer contribute to the population of cats in the area.

After much discussion regarding logistics, we borrowed eight humane traps from the Cleveland APL, and returned the following Sunday evening at 6:00 with more Stinky Goodness. It was raining, windy, and cold. The newspapers we used to line the traps kept getting blown around, and some of the traps were so sensitive that just picking them up would trigger them to close. Not optimal trapping conditions, to say the least. We set out the traps, and returned to our cars to wait. Nothing. So we left to grab dinner, dejected that we would catch any cats that night.

We returned an hour later to find four cats in traps! Woo-hoo!

We covered each trap with a towel, and instantly the cat inside quieted down. We transferred the trapped cats to our cars to keep warm and dry. After moving the remaining traps to different locations, we were able to trap three more cats before it got too dark to see what we were doing. We were pleased to have caught seven feral cats, but we counted at least five more, including a few clever ones who managed to eat the food without stepping on the trigger.

We brought the cats in the traps back to Diane’s Mom’s house, where we set them in the garage overnight.

Here are photos of the cats we trapped that night. Kitteh #1 is a long-haired orange and white male (I think). Orange cats are usually male.

Kitteh #2 looked to be a Siamese flame point mix.

Kitteh #3 is an orange tabby with some white on his chest.

Kitteh #4 is a long-haired brown tabby with white bib.

Kitteh #5 is a long-hair dilute calico female.

Kitteh #6 is a black, gold, and white calico female. Do you see two other sets of glowing eyes in this photo?

Kitteh #7 is a different orange tabby male.

We returned Monday night, May 16 (Panda Bear and Meerkat’s birthday) with five more traps, and with a nifty Drop Trap as well. Again, it was cold, raining, and windy, making trapping conditions less than optimal. The ground was saturated after weeks of rain, so there was a lot of squish squish squish through muddy grass.

I now have a new definition for Insanity: Standing in the bushes, in the dark, in the rain, holding the pull cord to the Drop Trap, and trying to trap a solid black cat! We gave up trying to trap the black cat in the dark, but did manage to trap five others. But we saw at least three more cats, including “Blackie”, the solid black cat with a noticeable limp.

Diane’s Mom and her friend were able to catch the last (we hope) three cats, and all have been spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and ear-tipped. Ear tipping is the universal symbol that a feral cat has been neutered and vaccinated. It is done while the cat is under anesthesia. It is done so that if they get trapped again, they won’t go in for surgery because the ear tip will indicate that they have already been neutered and vaccinated.

We were worried that Blackie might be euthanized due to his limp, but the APL did not note anything wrong with the paw. We had implored the APL staff to let Blackie live, since the property is on a quiet dead-end side street. So either Diane’s Mom caught a different black cat (not Blackie with the limp) or Blackie’s limp was not due to a fracture. We’ll never really know.

Next, releasing feral cats back in their home territory!

Now, we can also say that we have experience trapping a colony of feral cats.

It all started when my friend and co-worker Diane (name changed to protect the innocent) told me that her Mom was visiting a friend, and that there were “about six or eight friendly kittens” living outside the friend’s house. Diane’s Mom thought the kittens might be 2 to 3 months old. So Diane told her mom about me and PAWS.  I checked with PAWS if it was OK for me to “harvest the kittens” (as we say), and was given the OK and eight appointments for spay/neuter at the Cleveland APL.

On a warm sunny afternoon after work, Diane and I went over to the location to assess the situation. We were armed with the smelliest Stinky Goodness they make (Flaked Fish and Shrimp Feast, in case you were wondering), plates, water, dishes, surrender forms, and cat carriers. We were prepared to collect “friendly kittens” should they present themselves for collecting. We set up on the patio, and as Diane described it, “an army of cats” began appearing from the bushes once we opened the cans of Stinky Goodness.

It’s hard to estimate the age of a cat, especially when you can’t get close enough to hold and examine him or her. By my best guess, the youngest of the felines were in the 10-month age range. And all were skittish and afraid of us – feral. We counted at least eleven – possibly more – adult feral cats.

The difference between a stray cat and a feral cat is how they feel about humans. Stray cats are homeless cats who would make good companion cats for people. They like and trust people, and will let you pet them if you encounter them outside. Feral cats are not homeless – their home is the Great Outdoors, however inclement the weather or climate may be. However, they have not been socialized to trust people, and are therefore afraid of humans.

If a kitten is not socialized with lots of human contact early in life, they will grow up feral. There is debate as to what the critical age is, but from my experience, I would put it at 3 months. Which is not to say that an older feral kitten or cat cannot learn to trust people, but it will take MUCH MUCH longer, and A LOT of work. For more information about feral cats, please see Alley Cat Allies web site.

So, our hopes of harvesting young trusting kittens were scrapped – replaced by a TNR situation to get this cat population under control. It’s Kitten Season, after all, and by the looks of a few of the cats, some might already be pregnant. We needed to move fast to trap these cats before they started reproducing!

Tune in next time to find out if we were able to catch any of the feral cats!

This is what we looked like as newborns:

As Meerkat mentioned in her most recent post, Mom and Dad dragged the rug-sucking monsters around the house, and REMOVED ALL OUR FURS. Especially from the Cat Trees in the Fambly Room. As you can see in the photo below, I am very distraught about this turn of events.

Please join us for a Birthday ReFurring Party! Even though it is still winter here, we are sure that if efurryone sheds just a little, we will have the cat trees back to normal in no time!

Even if you don’t have furs, or don’t shed much, please come and enjoy the party!

We have food,

fountain drinks for the kittens and adult cat beverages for the big kittehs,

treats,

toys,

more toys,

nip

and napping spots!

Lots of napping spots!

Plus ample facilities for when you need to answer the call of nature. No long lines like at the ladies room at rock concerts!

There are two sets of stairs for games of Thundering Herds of Elephants! Each set of stairs has a landing and a turn for added interest and difficulty.

Please join us, and be prepared to SHED!!!  (Furless Cats Welcome, too!)

Purrs,

Ms. Floofs (Caramel)

and Cookie

we purrticipated in Secret Paws this year and we received The Meezers as our kittehs to be Secret Paws for. The Meezers wrote about opening our gift on Tuesday. we’re glad they liked the presents! Nicky has been on a nip high for a few days. that’s OK, so have i!!! because …

we got a FANTASTIC package from Samantha, Clementine, and Maverick in Texas! Cookie read the label to see who the package was from. Panda Bear helped to open the box.

Panda Bear helped to take the presents out of the box.

Panda Bear sniffed some primo nip toys inside the stocking and gave the stocking a good bunnykicking.

when Panda Bear was done bunnykicking, Caramel and i joined him to check out all the wonderful gifts.

Padre and Cookie joined Caramel, Panda Bear, and me. i am taking a good long sniff of the stocking stuffed with nip toys!

nip fest! mmmmmmmm nip!

i took a break from my nip fest to look at the pretty card from Samantha, Clementine, and Maverick!

Panda Bear checked out the YUMMY Fancy Feast Appetizers! we ate them and gave them our highest rating: 20 paws up! thank you for the Appetizers!!!

Padre and Panda Bear are checking out the Crunch ‘n Clean treats! mmmmm! yummy! we had never tried these before, but now mommy knows to get these since we liked them so much!

just like a meerkat, i know how to stand on my hind legs! sometimes i hold onto mommy’s hand …

and other times i go paws free! just like a good meerkat!

nip! nip nip nip nip! bunnykicking with a fishy toy this time!

Panda Bear with a package of nip sardines! don’t you love their little smiley faces?

not to be outdone, Floofs (Caramel) shows that she knows how to get her nip on!

Floofs having a nip fest with nip peppermint stick. she looks really high in this photo.

nip fest with bunnykicking to show off her floofy feets and toehawks.

Floofs says don’t touch her nip peppermint stick!

Panda Bear really got into the nip peppermint sticks too!

Panda Bear likes to lick the really primo nip toys. ewww. then nobuddy else wants to touch them.

Padre likes the nip sardines.

Padre also likes the jingle balls!

Cookie is posing with the nip toys!

check out this neato toy mousie!

Cookie made friends with the toy mousie. they are shaking paws here.

Cookie and the toy mousie are having a conversation.

i don’t think the toy mousie wants to be friends with Cookie any more.

check out the great calendar! do you see the resemblance between Cookie and the cover kitteh?

ahhhh! relaxing in the debris field! you can also see the great tablet! it has a magnet so it is going on the fridge. i will see to it that it is used for catfood shopping lists!

Thank You, Secret Paws!!! Thank You Samantha! Thank You Clementine! Thank You Maverick!

And a Special Thank You to Sweet Praline for organizing Secret Paws this year!

happy new year, efurryone!  (remember, if you nip, don’t drive.)

well, they made us to dress up in dumb costumes again this year.

and then they took photos!

lot of photos.

like this one of Padre dressed as a cowboy.

caramel really got screwed and had to wear three pieces to her costume.  heh.  serves that little floofy princess right.

cookie really protested about getting her photo taken, so she fled to the basement, still wearing her costume.

i am not sure what she was dressed as, other than an unhappy cat.

panda bear had to wear a pirate’s hat.  the dork really seemed to enjoy it, playing up on his one eye and all.

:: smugly ::   i got to wear a she-devil costume.

then, they turned the photos into a halloween card, and sent it to all their friends.

when mommy’s friend Dorothy got the card, she told Mommy:

I am surprised that by the look on Meerkat’s face, you and David were not turned into pillars of salt!

heh.  just the look i was going for.

if you would like your very own copy of the card, send us your snail mail address.  our email address is TheFurryBambinos AT gmail DOT com.   you can use our contact page if you want.

we can even send the card overseas too!

Happy Halloween, Efurrybody!

Today is the Third Anniversary of the Adoption of me, Padre,

and my adopted siblings Panda Bear

and Meerkat.

We are very grateful for a lot of things:

PAWS, Public Animal Welfare Society, in the Cleveland Ohio area, that rescued all of us from uncertain futures.  I, Padre, wound up in a kill shelter before being saved by PAWS. Panda Bear and Meerkat were born under a porch and got sick with eye infections (calici virus). That is why Panda Bear only has one eye, and Meerkat has scarring in her right eye that sometimes looks like a glowing eye when you look at her.

Loving parents.

Safe warm shelter.

Food and water.

Even V-E-T care when we need it.

And of course, great furriends like all of you!

So please, make yourselves at home! There is food, water, niptinis, milk for the kittens, toys, stairs for Thundering Herds of Elephants games, windows for bird and squirrel watching, cat beds for your napping pleasure, and companionship!  Let’s party all weekend!