Friday Guest Waker-Upper...

Good morning! Today we hear from a little dude named….well, Little Dude. He writes:

Greetings from Ohio, Romeo!!

I’m Little Dude, so named because I was found by a friendly farmer all alone under some hay. I was a litter of one! Strange, huh? I’m now a house kitty of one… and still a little dude. But, this works in my favor when it comes to breakfast. My staff has started feeding me (and only me!!) wet food every morning, the holy grail of kitty fare. I always know when the sun rises that I’m only hours away from this delicious gourmet treat, so I start the slow preparation of getting staff out of bed to feed me. (Note: this is a tedious process and I recommend it only for the brave and for those with staff who don’t wake up easily.)

Step one: About an hour before staff’s alarm usually goes off, paw at her forehead until she is half awake. Be sure to stand behind head to avoid swats. When she rolls over, scurry under the covers beside her.

Step two: This is the waiting game. Slide in between staff’s arms and purr, keeping her half awake. This is getting her thinking about the fact that you want breakfast and reminds her just how adorable you are, under the covers and keeping her warm and such.

Step three: After she falls back a sleep, come out from under the covers. Gently keep tapping her face, like Chinese Water Torture… Tap. Tap. Tap. As she starts to wake up, step it up—use your claws a little and paw at her lip. Even if staff grabs paw for a second, continue. Your persistence will pay off. Keep Tapping. Keep pawing

Step four: She’s up!!! Hurry to the Bathroom!!! It’s BREAKFAST!!!

God speed, Romeo!!

Sincerely,
Little Dude

Hee hee, Little Dude. I like your style, especially the Chinese Water Torture and leveraging claws ever so slightly to encourage a faster reaction. NICE. Thanks for writing!

Tags: cat wake up, cats in ohio, cute cats, little dude

Thursday Wake up Tactic – PP Gets in Trouble...

Well, you all know Perfect Pugsley has very few faults. And you also know that his big downfall is that he is THE LOUDEST GROOMER. He snorts, chorts, snuffs, grunts, slurps and disturbs anyone in his immediate surroundings. Heck, even the Tail-pulling-screaming-running-tantrum-throwing-goldfish-cracker-eating Creature stops and takes notice when the Pugman is at work on his plumage.

So when he decides to groom himself in the big bed? In the morning? On the female staff member’s pillow? Is he in for it. Gotta admit, it’s kinda fun to watch.

Here’s how things go:

1. The staff starts by poking him to get him to stop. This does no good.
2. Then the staff opens her eyes and says, “Pugsley! STOP.” Again, no good.
3. Then she shoves him off the pillow. He simply moves a few inches and resumes his activity.
4. Finally, she has to physically get up and remove him from the bed.
5. All this happens while I sit sweetly by, watching this whole scene unfold.

Luckily today the Pug did this within the range of acceptable wake up times so BREAKFAST was a direct result. If he does it too early, staff kicks us out of the room and we’re screwed.

Way to go, Pugman!

Tags: animal rescue, cat grooming, Pugsley, wake up

Wake up, it’s Wednesday! Wake up Tactic...

To make up for yesterday’s miserable wake up failure, today I focused on imagining success – what success would look like and more importantly, taste like in my belleh!

I waited until it was just late enough that I would not be removed from the room (6 a.m.) and sat on the pillow next to female staff’s head. I meowed, meowed, meowed, MEOWED. Then, put front paws on her chest. Meowed. Meowed. Meowed. MEOWED. Then, climbed onto her chest and sat there, meowing and riding up and down with her breathing. Meow. Up. Meow. Down. Meow. Up. Meow. Down. Also turned on purr machine. At this point, staff was clearly awake and could no longer resist my cuteness. She sat up, I fell off and soon thereafter, BREAKFAST was served!

Oh! I have very important news. Staff has finally figured out that Pugsley and I do not like our wet food after it comes out of the fridge so they have begun heating it up first. See? These silly humans can be trained.

Tags: cat sleeping, cat wake up, wake up

Tuesday Wake up tactic...

ARGH. Got in trouble for 4 a.m. meowing so was booted out of the room. Sigh. So no official wake up tactic today. Although, that kinda was a wake up tactic, isn’t it? I mean, I did wake them up. But BREAKFAST did not get served so it was really a big fat FAIL, I suppose. Hrumph. I should know better. But I was really hungeeeee.

Anyway, instead staff decided to post a photo of me in a funny sleeping pose. She says this cracks her up every time she looks at it. We’ve decided to request other funny sleeping pose photos from YOU guys!

Please, please send your funny sleeping pose to romeo (at) romeothecat.com and we will share them. Send your name, your pet’s name and your city and state.

This is gonna be so fun I forgot all about my dismal wake up failure.

Tags: cat funny sleeping poses, cat sleeping, wake up tactic

Meow Monday Wake up Tactic...

This morning I started out by meowing at the back of the female staff’s head. This was only because that is where I happened to be when I started to get hungry. But then I hopped over her head and engaged my latest favorite tactic – poking paw into staff member’s face. Poke-poke-poke-poke-poke. And, hooray, she was up and BREAKFAST was moments away!

Tags: cat wake up, poke paw

Now dis I gotta have...

As you guys know, the Pugman and I are indoor only kittehs. But I LOVE when the door opens and I get a whiff of that fresh air out there. And if I spot a squirrel or a bird? OH MAN OH MAN do I want a piece of that outdoors. Once in a great while, the staff will take us outside on an adventure. Even Pugsley, who is very lazy and lacks general initiative on anything except finding the perfect nap spot, gets excited on these excursions. But they end much too soon.

I have an announcement for indoor kittehs! Do you know about the Kritter Kommunity? It is this awesome company that sells outdoor enclosures – Kritter Kondos – so us indoor guys can safely spend time outside! They also sell some other cool stuff, too!

Now that the weather is starting to warm up here in North Carolina, I am going to start making my desire for a Kritter Kondo known. Any ideas for how I can do this? Need brainstorm session please.

Tags: indoor cats, kritter kommunity, kritter kondo

February FURPOWER – Pet Samaritan Fund...

Pugsley and I are thrilled to be supporting a wonderful organization called The Pet Samaritan Fund, a nonprofit organization established in 1991, that aids needy animals mainly on the Wasatch Front and Uintah Basin, near Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Pet Samaritan Fund provides:

•Shelter and medical care for animals taken into their foster program until permanent homes can be found. Most of their animals are from municipal shelters.
•Assistance to spay and neuter animals for low income families in their areas of service.

If you would like to donate to the Pet Samaritan Fund, please visit our donate page.

Thank you for helping us help more animals!

GO FURPOWER!

Friday Guest Wake up Genius...

Today’s genius is a kitty named Bear (I LOVE when cats have names of other animals, he he!)

Here’s what Bear writes:

“Hi Romeo,

I’m Bear, a semi-reformed barn cat with too many toes (27!) and not enough eyes. I lost my right eye from an infection when I was a baby kitten. I do just fine, though – especially with catching mice and pouncing on the staff. In fact, I call my wake up tactic “the crouching tigger” approach.

I observe semi-awake staff taunt me with under-sheet finger flicks. Crouch low by her toes. Tilt head to watch with good eye.  Wait, wait, wait for the right moment … then LEAP onto chest. Once she gets her wind back, there is plenty of head scritches. Most days she’ll play a little more. After play, there’s BREAKFAST!

XOXO,
Bear”

First of all, 27 TOES?! Doesn’t it take forever to clean them? Nonetheless, you clearly use them to your advantage – nice work! Thanks for writing in, Bear. You are an inspiration!
 

Tags: bear the cat, cat wake up, crouching tigger

Martha Stewart and PurinaOne Help Homeless Pets...

I’m always happy to hear about companies that are running promotions to help pets in need and happy to pass along what we can do to maximize those companies’ donations.

Here’s a great one I learned about from the peeps at Marthastewart.com. They’ve teamed up with PurinaOne to help pets in need. PurinaOne has generously agreed to donate $1 worth of pet food to food banks across the country, up to $50,000 worth, for every pet profile Marthastewart.com users share on Facebook. It’s a great -and easy -way to help raise money for a good cause. There is no purchase necessary, no sign ups needed, only a Facebook account and a few minutes.

Here’s how it works:

1. Just visit http://www.marthastewart.com/pet-adoption before March 31, 2010 and use their search tool, powered by AdoptaPet.com, to find an adoptable animal you’d like to share with others.

2. On the pet’s profile, click the Facebook link and sign into your Facebook account if you haven’t already. You can add a note (let your friends know how you’re helping out and encourage them to do the same!) or just click “share” and you’re done.

3. Voila! You’ve just let your pals know about a pet looking for a home, and helped other pets in need from winding up in shelters, too.

By the way, there’s no limit on the number of pets you can share, so help Marthastewart.com and PurinaOne
reach their $50,000 goal by posting as often as you want.

This is the kind of promotion I like. It’s simple, it helps pets and doesn’t require a lot of time. So tell your friends! I know PurinaOne wants to give away $50K in food – let’s help them do it!

Tags: facebook, homeless pets, marthastewart.com, purinaone

Thursday Wake up Tactic...

Started the day with meow. Meow. Meow.

I could tell female staff member was playing dead so I stuck my head really close to hers, nose-to-nose, and made sure my whiskers were tickling her face. Then, poked my paw in her mouth a couple of times.

TA-DA! Staff up and the BREAKFAST train was choo-choo-chooing right into Romeo’s belleh!

Tags: breakfast, cat's meow, wake up cat