Missing the GPs. BIG TIME.

BREAKFAST AT 6 AM WITH GRANDPA JOE.

In other words, no wake up tactics needed! Grandpa Joe is a very early riser. Either he has not built up immunity to our cute, hungry meowing faces OR he doesn’t care about staff rules and uses his God-given Grandparent right to give the grandkids (erm, grandcats) whatever they want, whenever they want it.

Am guessing it was little bit of both.

Alas, the grandparents left yesterday so I was back on duty today, making sure lazy staff was up and at ‘em. Did typical MEOWMEOWMEOWMEOW then got face thisclose to female staff’s face and MEOOOOOOOOOOWED. Then yawned just as she opened her eyes. Hilarious to see the look on her face.

Ha ha! BREAKFAST was served. Not as early as with Grandpa Joe but served nonetheless. HOORAY.

Nala. What a pretty gal!

Nala writes:

Hi there Romeo!

My name is Nala and I’m a beeeeautiful Siamese (if I do say so myself, and I do). I live here with my annoying feline sister Sommer (a brown tabby) and my two canine sisters Piper and Ally (they’re chisomething mixes but honestly I don’t care to know their breed – they’re just DOGS). Oh, and I guess there is a male and female staff member in the house as well.

Sommer, the wake up closer

Sommer jumped up and started to bathe herself next to the female staff member’s head. Sommer takes long baths and is diligent about them. *lick lick lick lick* The female staff member stirred a bit. She was determined to still sleep so Sommer decided to just bathe the female staff’s face. HAH! Finally it worked!

On to tomorrow. I usually like to mix it up a bit (like sleeping on the female staff member’s head until she practically coughs up a furball). Wish me luck! Thanks for the continued inspiration, Romeo!

Love,
Nala

P.S. – I’m including pictures of me and my sister Sommer. Feel free to post all or none of the pictures. (I mean, of course you want to post the picture of ME but I know a picture of a brown tabby may bore your readers…)

Hee hee, Nala, you are one smart kitty! I love the multi-tiered strategy, leveraging each of your personal strengths! Thanks for writing, pretty girl. Blush.

From the photo archives: MY lampshade!

But not really, as BREAKFAST came shortly thereafter.

I mean, seriously. How could you NOT miss this face?

Anyhoo this means she was away for TWO mornings and Pug and I were left with the male staff member, who is pretty good but doesn’t smell as nice as the manager.

So this morning I had to lay it on REALLY strong. MEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWed all the way up the stairs. MEOWMEOWed at side of bed. MEOWMEOWMEOWed in her face. Sat on her chest. MEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWed in her face. PURRed. MEOWMEOWMEOWed. Place paw gently on her cheek. Finally, eyes came open and she said, “Hi Romeo!” WOW! That was shocking! No turning over to escape me and no grumpy hand pushing me off?

Guess she missed me!

Look at that pink nose!

Harry writes:

Hi Romeo!

My name is Harry Houdini (they call me that ‘cos when I first came to my fur-ever home, I escaped from my bedroom on the first day!) and I’ve been after my mommy to tell you my great wake up strategy for some time now! You featured my big brudder Sammy a while ago, and while I think he’s great, I think my way of waking up our hoomans is better. 

I’m the youngest of the kitties that live in our house. Mommy calls me the baby, but I’m a big boy! I’m 18 months old and still like to play play PLAY with my toys and my brudder Sammy! I have big sister, Sophie who doesn’t like me but I still try to play with her anyway. Sometimes in the morning, before mommy and the daddy guy get up, I like to run around playing tag with Sammy and Sophie. Sammy like to play, but Sophie makes lots of noise and that wakes up the hoomans. The daddy guy yells, and goes back to sleep, but mommy will get up and come downstairs to feed us! Success! Of course, breakfast means more energy for me to chase Sammy (Sophie has gone to her hiding spot by now). 

Keep up the good work sharing the wake up tactics and working for rescues! 

Paw bumps,

Harry 

Thanks for writing, Harry! You guys are definitely using the zoomies tactic to your full advantage. Bravo!

Post zooming nap

Then, human body hoisted out of bed and HIP HIP HOORAY FOR BREAKFAST!

Sierra and Kobe chillaxing

Their staff, Meredith told us all about a funny story about when Sierra and Kobe went to the V-E-T. Sierra was all finished with her exam and Kobe was getting his, when Ms. Sierra climbed up to the top shelf in the exam room, knocked off all the samples and then plopped down for a nap! At the V-E-T office!

Silly Sierra. Check out Sierra and Kobe on PeoplePets.com. They’s fa-mouse!

And remember, this week is National Take Your Cat to the Vet Week, sponsored by Feline Pine all-natural cat litter. Each day, Feline Pine is picking a new winner in their Tell us Your Funny Vet Stories contest. Winners get 6 months of free Feline Pine litter and a $75 gift card towards their next vet visit. Enter here to win!

I will not be ignored.

This morning, however, was a MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. Then, stood on her sternum with the crushing weight of the front half of my body. Got pushed off. Then, went to MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. at male staff member. He rolled over.

Then, back to female staff member. Used sure-fire tactic and one of Pugsley’s favorites…..AHHHHHHCHOOOOOO! Right into her face! Heh heh.

HELLO BREAKFAST!

What a gal!

She was even featured on PeoplePets.com today!

Here is Praline’s story:

Praline hates going to the vet’s office. She even hisses at the vet techs when they go to get her out of the cage. Last spring after she had some surgery and had to stay all day, I came to get her.

The tech walked back to the back to ask Praline is she was ready to go home. I heard a thud and then the tech laughing. She said Praline (my little persian) literally leaped from the cage to her carrier when she heard my voice. Persians don’t “leap!” Praline fussed at me the whole way home!

Nice “leap” Praline!

Each day, Feline Pine is picking a new winner in their Tell us Your Funny Vet Stories contest. Winners get 6 months of free Feline Pine litter and a $75 gift card towards their next vet visit. Lots of chances to win! Enter here.

Just make yer darn appointment and be done with it.

Pugs and I do have yearly check ups but also go more often than that because staff is a bit, ahem, overprotective. The minute one of us barfs one too many times or if someone has an accident on the rug a couple of times in a row, BAM! We are off to the V-E-T.

The week is sponsored by my friends at Feline Pine who are supporting this program because they really care about kittehs. They are also running a contest right now called Tell Us Your Funniest Vet Stories contest. Submit your funny story about going to the V-E-T and you could win 6 months of free litter PLUS a gift card towards a visit to the V-E-T. But submit your entry soon – they pick a new winner each day next week!

This promotion got me wondering about other kittehs’ experiences at the V-E-T so I conducted a little survey of my own. Here are a few things I learned:

-43% of cats somehow know what’s up and run to hide before the cat staff can get them into the carrier.
-60.2% of cats won’t get into the cat carrier.
-44.3% of cats won’t come out of the cat carrier once at the V-E-T.
-67% of kittehs yowl and complain the whole way to the V-E-T.
-10.2% of cats love the V-E-T.

Then here is what those surveyed said the vet staff says about their cats:

-What a loverboy/lovergirl! 31%
-Hi Handsome/Beautiful 76.2%
-I better get some back up 17.9%
-We had to sedate him/her 8.3%
-I’ve never seen such a ______________cat! 28.6%

Funny answers: Interesting, fat, feisty, big, neurotic, relaxed (actually paralyzed with fear), vocal, chubby, unique, loving, exotic, interestingly named, well dressed, terrified, pitiful, crazy.

I always thought the staff at V-E-T’s office just called ME handsome. It was a little upsetting to find that SEVENTY-SIX PERCENT of cats get called that! Hrumph. Whatever.