Monthly Archives: August 2015

Mama-Made: carpet and rope scratcher

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Peoples, our Mama is a hoarder. Not quite a hoarder. Almost a hoarder. Anyway, she keeps all these things because she thinks she’ll use (“upcycle”) them one day but the thing is that she DOES use them so she’s kind of justified in her hoarding.

Mama used to have bookshelves made of bricks and laminate shelves. She seriously moved with boxes of bricks. When she moved to our house she ditched the bricks but kept the shelves.

And we get the benefit!

Mama took one of the shelves and covered it on both sides with a carpet scrap. (She used spray adhesive and it didn’t work so fantastically, so then she used E6000 which is her go-to glue for things needing more holding power than Elmers.) That would have been good enough for us, but then she bought rope and wrapped it around the board a few times and glued it down.

Yay fun scratcher for us. Mama put catnip on it the other night and now it’s our favorite thing ever. Besides food and boxes and chicken treats and squirrel-watching.

photograph of Skates lying on the rope part of the scratcher

 

Love, Skates

Forever Family Friday: Tarzan

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Happy Forever Family Friday! Is your name Jane?

This week we want to tell you about Tarzan. Tarzan is in the shelter at New York Avenue. Tarzan’s profile doesn’t have a bio and we’ve never met him (neither has Mama!) but he caught our attention for one important reason: he is gray and white. And so is Shadow! And Skates is all gray! So we like Tarzan for looks alone. Plus he has a cute pink nose and pink toe beans!!

So if you can’t adopt Mocha because you already have a pet (remember, Mocha doesn’t like other animals), maybe Tarzan is the guy for you!

 

Carriers of Faith

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Attention people and felines of the Internet! I am Mocha’s press secretary, DC.Nerd, announcing to all the official formation of Mocha’s religion: Carriers of Faith.

photograph of Mocha sitting in her cat carrier

Subscribe to Carriers of Faith, and no longer will your cat carrier be a source of anxiety but a fountain of tuna treats!

silhouette of a generic fish

Join now by sending tuna treats, and you will be rewarded. (Warning: this YouTube link will autoplay when you click on it.)

Mocha is looking for a new parsonage! Take your tuna treats to the Washington Humane Society to make your home hers.

With love and faith from the treatgiver,

DC.Nerd

 

P.S. Persons of the Internet who wish for their cats to join Carriers of Faith may wish to check out this step-by-step guide to conversion.

Mama-Made: cat hammock

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Hi hoomans, Skates here. Did you know that our Mama spends way too much time on Pinterest? She does. And then she makes things!! Mama has made a whole bunch of things for us kittelach!! We don’t use all of them (yet?) but we decided to share them with you.

Today, Mama spent a lot of time and chicken treats trying to teach me to use the cat hammock she made. There are a lot of ideas for different ways to make cat hammocks! Mama was looking at cat hammock ideas at the same time as she was looking at PVC and copper pipe ideas for other things, and she decided to design her own combining lots of ideas instead of copying one idea exactly. Mama took 5/8 inch dowels and 1/2 inch copper pipe fittings (we never took math, but even we know that 5/8 > 1/2. We don’t really understand why 5/8 inch dowels are the right size, but they are) and made a frame. Then she rummaged through her fabric (this was really fun for us) to find something sturdier than quilting cotton and in a piece big enough to fit one of us curled up. She sewed up the ends of the fabric to make a pocket for the dowels to go through, and then used stinky strong glue to hold everything together.

photograph shows the hammock

our hammock! and some mess in our living room!

Like I said, we’re not sure we like the hammock yet. Mama picked me up and put me on the hammock and then gave me chicken treats!! Then I got off and got back on, and Mama gave me more chicken treats! Then Mama put away the treats and I got on the hammock again and Mama got up to get the treats and I got off the hammock before she had a chance to give me more treats. Then Mama said something about spoiling my appetite.

I’m going to see what I can do about getting more chicken treats from Mama.

Love, Skates

Ten Facts About Me, by Mocha

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1. I don’t do this whole dictate-to-human-to-write-in-first-person-crap, get off my lawn.

Well, I guess the other nine facts about Mocha are going to be by foster mama DC.Nerd. (Me.)

2. Mocha is 12. In cat years, that does put her squarely in “get off my lawn” territory. She’s earned the right to be a little ornery!

3. We try to be body-positive here, but Mocha is a bit on the chubby side. And a bit on the fluffy side!

4. Mocha is a self-soother. She learned at some point that when she gets agitated, she should go straight to her scratcher and she’ll feel better.

5. Mocha learns fast. It only took two or three times giving her treats in a carrier for her to decide that the carrier is a good place to be, and now she hangs out there probably 50% of the time.

Photograph of Mocha in her carrier

6.Mocha is protective of her territory and her people. (This is why she should be an only cat.)

7. Mocha isn’t a lap cat, but does love being near people. She happily sits near me in whatever room I’m in and has started hopping up in bed with me (much to the consternation of Skates and Shadow).

8. Mocha is particular about the arrangement of her living space. I will put her water bowl down and come back 15 minutes later to find it in front of the open carrier flap, as opposed to the where-I-won’t-trip-over-it location I put it down in.

9. Mocha likes wand toys, and will carry one of them around the house with her.

10. Mocha likes kisses on the head and nuzzling noses.

Bonus fact! Mocha is all ready to be adopted; she just needs her forever family to wake up and smell the coffee! If that’s you, email us at kittelach@gmail and we can arrange a time for you to come over.

Oops–Mistake Monday

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You guys. We forgot to post on Forever Family Friday. We think it’s because we don’t really know how to read a calendar. Anyway, we’re christening today Mistake Monday to make up for it.

Just a reminder, Forever Family Friday is because we–Skates and Shadow–hold a special place in our hearts for the cats still in the shelter.

Today we want to tell you about Logee! Our friend Bethe says that Logee is “the sweetest, coolest dude in town!” And Bethe is a very good judge of feline character, so you should believe her. Logee is a snuggler and a purr-monster (we know all about purr monsters–remember our foster brudder Prince?) and purr monsters are great white noise makers for sleep!

You should go to the New York Avenue location of the Washington Humane Society and adopt Logee today before he gets adopted by someone else.

This Saturday all adoption fees at WHS are waived as part of a nationwide “Clear the Shelters” event! Stop by the New York Avenue location of WHS between noon and 7 on Saturday, and you can meet not only the NYA cats, but also a whole bunch of fosters who will be there just for the day. (Not Mocha, because we’re Jewish, shabbat-keeping kittelach. Email us–kittelach@gmail–or Mama–dcdotnerd@gmail–to meet Mocha another time.)

 

 

Why Adopt a Senior Cat?

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Hi peoples! I’m Shadow, and I should be the oldest in my house (I just turned four!!) but Mama keeps fostering cats older than me. I’m here to tell you today why you should adopt a senior cat. And I’m not doing that just because I want Mocha out of my house so I can be the oldest again. I’m doing it because there are lots of senior cats (and dogs, but #CatsRuleDogsDrool) who need and want homes.

So without further ado, here’s why to adopt a senior cat:

1. Senior cats are slower. No zooming down the hallway for dinner for these cats! (Which means we younger adults can get there first.) [Source: me.]

2. Senior cats “often know that scratching posts (not furniture) are for scratching and toys (not hands or feet) are for biting.” [Source: Petfinder.] P.S. Mocha is a good example of this!

3. Senior cats are pretty chill. They’re not likely to try parkour in your living room. [Source: Vetstreet.com.]

4. Senior cats often have a more full history available, so you’re more likely to have information in advance on whether the cat gets along with other cats or kids or what-have-you. [Source: Petango.]

5. Since senior cats are often passed over for kittens, when you adopt a senior cat, you’re opening space in a shelter not just for one other cat, but probably many other cats.

6. Senior cats still have a lot of life (and love!) left in them.

Image is a photo of a cat with text reading