Most of you know that I’m big on never letting cats outside. I know it’s a controversial subject, but in addition to healthier cats who live longer, I’ve noticed that people develop stronger bonds with their cats when they are inside 24/7. I think part of this is due to cat parents seeing more of their cat’s personality and individuality.

I am segueing away from the initial reason for this blog entry. Cats can be very happy living indoors 24/7.  All it takes is a little entertainment and enrichment. You can read more about it in USA Today and on page 6D of the printed version of USA Today.

Even though the intent of my blog is to focus on the wonderment of cat behavior, I am going to segue into another part of my life. Some of you know that I’m the coordinator for California Bengal Cat Rescue. I hate asking for help for a rescue situation, it just doesn’t seem right for me to use my blog for this. But I am…

Today’s blog is a plea for help, it’s a rescue blog.

I’m in the process of coordinating a major rescue. 35 Bengals are being surrendered to me. They come from a breeder who has been hit with severe economic hardship. She is surrendering all of her babies to us. It’s really hard for her to do this because she adores each and every one of her little cats, but she knows it’s the best thing for them.

Each of these lovely cats need to be spayed/neutered before they go either to foster homes or their forever homes. I have located a low cost clinic, run by Best Friends Sanctuary who can speuter them at a reasonable rate: $35 for the boys $45 for the girls.  We need financial help desperately! We have some funds, but not enough to cover all 35 of them.

We also need either hard plastic carriers donated to us, or money for 15 carriers. The carriers will be for transporting the cats in three groups to the clinic for their speutering.

We will also need help with transporting the cats to and from the clinic. The cats are in Lancaster, north east of Los Angeles. The clinic is in the Los Angeles area. I’m not sure but I think it’s about a one hour drive.

We also need foster homes and great adopters.

I have included pictures of 4 of the cats. As you can see, they are beautiful. One of the cats, Sandy, is a Supreme Grand Champion. Each cat has his and her own story, each cat is special and needs and deserves a great and loving home. If you can help us with this rescue, please send donations through PayPal to: donate@bengalrescuenetwork.org and write in the memo or subject head that it’s for California. We are a 5013C organization, so whatever you donate can be written off.

Thank you so much for helping.

I promise, my next blog will be about cat behavior.

 

I am going to be back on KGO Radio, on the Ronn Owens Show Friday, February 13^that 11:00 AM PT. Anyway… I think I am. Ronn’s web site says he is going to be interviewing Jimmy Carter on “Friday February 12″ at 11:00. I am assuming he meant to write Thursday…  So… with any luck and with a typo correction, I will be giving cat behavior tips, answering questions from the listening audience and having fun talking with Ronn Owens on Friday the 13th. You can hear the interview live either on AM 810, or on the KGO Radio web site by clicking on the listen live button on the right. Since this is a live talk program, please call the program and ask your cat behavior questions.

The call in numbers are listed on the call in number page on the KGO site.

I promise I will write an entry for the blog soon. I have a couple of deadlines that I’m working hard to meet.

I’m very proud of my movie star cats. I feel like one of those parents who can’t stop talking about their talented progeny. Maybe my car should wear a bumper sticker that proclaims that my cats are honor students.  

Maulee and two of her buddies, Sudan and Jinniyha were on network TV last night helping solve the mystery of the purr. Thanks to modern technology, you can see them unravel the mystery on the web at CBS 5  .

The segment is called: Why Do Cats Purr?  

I was interviewed today by Ken Bastida, the news anchor for the 6:00 CBS news. He came to my house with his cameraman, intent on interviewing me about purring. He wanted me to answer the enigmatic questions: why do cats purr? And how do they purr? I prepared all week for this interview, both cleaning the house and in researching the mystery of the purr.This, by the way, is why I haven’t posted on my blog all week.

Ken and his cameraman were here for about 2 hours. It was fun, but I don’t know how the interview went. Ken adores cats and spent a good portion of the time admiring and enjoying my cats. I really enjoyed watching him interact and seeing the admiration and love he has for cats. I also enjoyed hearing about his wonderful elderly cat. My cats are great around cameras and strangers. They enjoy performing, and spent part of the interview licking the camera and giving Ken kisses on request. I also did a little demo with a couple of the cats sitting on their stools, shaking hands and finding my keys. They did film it, but that’s not what Ken had originally intended on interviewing and filming me about. I’m not sure if we got enough footage about cats purring…

They will edit this down into about a 1.5 minute segment. It will be shown in about two weeks on TV CBS news at 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM.

We know that are fur kids don’t live as long as we do. We don’t want them to hurt or to be in pain… they share their lives with us and give us their love. Painful and awful as it is, I feel we need to be with them when they cross the bridge.

I will help Bok Choi cross the bridge today at 11:00. It tears me up to do this, but today he refused to eat even his very favorite food and I think he is in pain.

It’s time.

I have been getting many questions about cat behavior from readers of my blog. It’s impossible for me to answer all of the questions. But… it just so happens… I am going to be the guest question-answerer on Petfinders Forum, starting the 10th of November through the 16th. So, please do surf on over during that time and ask questions about cat behavior and cat behavior challenges.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog, and thank you for commenting and asking questions. I wish I could answer them all.

I am going to be on TV this Friday night on CBS Channel 5 at 7:20 PM on a show called Pets Around the Bay. After it aires, I’m told that it will be available on line . The filming took about 5 hours a couple of months ago. They filmed me talking about cats and cat behavior and showed me clicker training a shelter cat. I am curious to see what they used in the segment.

I am teaching a teleconference tonight through Raising Canine. The 90 minute class is all about inappropriate elimination (litter box and spraying issues). The class starts at 5:00 PM (PT) and is a combination of a PowerPoint presentation (sent upon enrolling) and a phone conference.

Please go to Raising Canine to enroll… you need to scroll down.

I hope to see you there!