So Mom brought me home a new toy today from Pet People. It is a little blue fat cat wearing shorts with an elastic band around the waist. The package said, “Stuff it” on the outside and you are supposed to “stuff” a pre-packed block of catnip into the waistband, making the fat cat look even fatter.

I know what Mom was insinuating with this gift. She was telling me that one fat cat (me) was getting another fat cat (the toy) and that we both closely resembled each other. The more catnip you pack in the pants, the fatter the toy cat gets.

Well, I don’t like Mom’s idea of a joke. She is just picking on me. I do not look like this toy. He is blue and he is wearing pants. See any resemblance? Neither do I.

I will have the last laugh. I am going to chew up this little fat cat, chew the fat and catnip right off his belly, so that all that is left is his polka dot pants.

We have signed up for the Macy’s “Shop for a Cause” event on Saturday, October 16. The tickets are $5 and we keep all proceeds.  The $5 allows you to buy a Shopping Pass for exclusive savings in every Macy’s store on October 16th. You can enter to win a $500 Macy’s Gift Card as part of the shopping events.

If you would like to purchase a $5 Macy’s Shopping Pass, please email us at bandocats@columbus.rr.com and we will make sure to get a ticket to you.  You can also purchase tickets at Plain City Druggist, 480 South Jefferson Avenue, Plain City, across from Der Dutchman Restaurant on Route 42.  The pharmacy is open 9-6 Monday to Friday, closed from 1:15-2:15 for lunch, and Saturday from 9-12.

Additionally, we will be selling tickets at our adoption events in September at the PetSmart on Sawmill Road. So if you’d like to get tickets, stop by and see us and the kitties.

We will also be selling tickets at the Mall at Tuttle Crossing located at 5043 Tuttle Crossing in Dublin on October 16, the day of the event.  We’ll give you more information about where we’ll be located and the times we’ll be there as soon as we know.

On Sunday, August 29, we attended the Blessing of the Animals ceremony in Goodale Park presented by King Avenue United Methodist Church. A friend of Chuck and Carol Gaul, Charlene Bohn, attends King Avenue and wanted to remember the Gaul kitties that were killed in the recent house fire at the beginning of August. Charlene asked parishioners to donate cat food to B and O to honor the Gaul kitties and she also presented eleven flowers at the altar in remembrance of the beloved felines.

Carol and Chuck came for the service. Carol carried the box that contained the cremated remains of her eleven cats. I brought Rascal, Carol’s other foster, who has been staying with me since the fire. Rascal was the only survivor because he was at PetSmart waiting to be adopted the day of the fire. For this brief moment, the twelve cats were once again reunited.

Several other friends of Carol and B and O showed up for the ceremony. Bobbie, Debbie, Brian, Allen, Dr. Kim West, Susan, and Carol’s daughter and son-in-law all came to lend their support and show their love. While we were there, Kristin sent a text from Canada, where she was attending a wedding, to tell Carol that she was thinking of her. We were surrounded by animal lovers and many, many beloved animals. The dogs’ barks and howls added to the joy of the event. It was so nice to look around and find happy furry faces everywhere.

Charlene made a brief announcement about Carol and Chuck and why the church had decided to collect the cat food for B and O. Then when it was time for the Blessing, everyone took their animals down to the gazebo and received prayers filled with love and emotion. A pink vase sitting on the gazebo steps was used to collect flowers to remember beloved pets that were no longer with us. Carol walked forward and put her flower in the vase, all the while clutching the wooden box with the remains of her feline family. It was very emotional and there were tears, of course.

I want to thank Charlene and King Avenue United Methodist Church for a lovely service and for remembering the Gaul cats during this time when animal lovers were gathered in gratitude for the pets in their lives. I also want to thank Debbie, Brian, Allen, Dr. Kim West, Susan, and everyone else who came out to show their support for Carol and Chuck.

To see all of our photos from this lovely day, visit our Facebook page: B and O on Facebook

While waiting in my chiropractor’s office this morning, I came across an article in the July 2010 issue of Ohio Magazine called, “Canines of Comfort,” by Ohio author Jane Miller. The article related how Miller, a psychotherapist and licensed social worker, had been working with psychiatric service dogs to help abuse victims, veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and others with panic attacks, depression, or severe emotional disabilities lead better lives. The dogs allowed these people to have lives that were not ruled by their emotions, anxieties, or fears.

Service dogs have been used to help people with many physical disabilities, but this is a new field exploring how dogs can help people with emotional and psychiatric disabilities. The dogs provide comfort and acceptance and are trained to specifically help their owner with their specific disorder. 

Most of us who have animals in our lives know firsthand how much pets can help when we are feeling unhappy or anxious. I often say that my cat, Oswald, absorbs all my stress from the day when I pick him up upon arriving home. Once his furry body is against me, all my negative energy dissipates. I have joked that his poor little body should be covered in warts and tumors from sucking up my bad emotions. But, Oswald, being the cat he is, takes it all in and makes it all good. 

That is the power of our companion animals. 

To find out more about psychiatric service dogs and the power of these canines to heal, read “Canines of Comfort” or visit Jane Miller’s web site: Healing Companions

I had an email from a lady, Olivia Smith, who needs to temporarily place her mother’s two cats in foster care until she and her husband can move from her grandmother’s house where they are currently staying. As Olivia related, her grandmother is extremely allergic to the cats and the doctor has advised that the cats can no longer stay in the house. Additionally, Olivia will need help transporting the cats to foster care. They are currently in Conneaut, Ohio near the Pennsylvania border.

Here is what Olivia wrote: “I need to find a temporary foster home for my mom’s cats. My husband and I will be taking them with us when we move (currently living with her and my grandmother), but they need to be out of the house for now because my grandmother has severe allergies and her coughing is getting worse. Her doctor said they have to go.  The closer to where we are now, the better, so we don’t have to travel so far to get them back.  We also don’t have transportation to take them to the foster home, which has been a huge problem for us. We’ve had 2 possible places to take them and we couldn’t get them there so the foster care fell through. My husband is a truck driver, so when we move, it won’t be a problem to come and get them.  We are currently in Conneaut, OH, which is on I-90 near the PA state line.

“I have attached pictures of each of them. Phebe is about 4, and Sassy just turned 3.  They have been tested for FIV and leukemia, and both are fixed. Sassy is front declawed; Phebe uses a post.”

If you can help foster Phebe, who is the orange and white cat pictured, and Sassy, the Siamese mix (the family would like for them to stay together if possible), please email me at bandocats@columbus.rr.com and I will put you in contact with Olivia. As a side note, I would be glad to help set up a transport to get the cats from Conneaut to wherever their new foster home may be located. We have done this type of thing several times to take cats to new homes in New York and Virginia, so just getting them across the state should not be a problem.

Shortly after the fire that took the lives of the Gaul kitties, I had an email from a friend of Chuck and Carol’s who wanted to honor the eleven cats lost in the smoke. Charlene Bohn was heartbroken to learn that Carol had been through such a devastating loss and she felt she needed to do something to remember the Gauls and their beloved felines. Charlene wrote to tell me that her church has an annual Blessing of the Animals and she planned to bring eleven flowers to the service to honor Carol’s babies. Charlene wanted to know if I felt it would be appropriate to ask her pastor if some type of donation could also be made to Black and Orange Cat Foundation in remembrance of the Gaul cats.

My response was a resounding yes. When I mentioned this kind gesture to Carol, her eyes filled up with tears and she was pleased beyond all words that someone was remembering her cats in this way.

Just this week I had another email from Charlene about the Blessing of the Animals and I wanted to let everyone know about it so they could also participate in this lovely service to honor Carol and her cats. Charlene spoke to her pastors at King Avenue United Methodist Church (299 King Avenue in Columbus) and they agreed to collect cat food for Black and Orange as a way of helping other cats like Carol’s (all eleven of Carol’s cats who were lost in the fire were rescue cats–one was her latest foster, Charlotte, who we were hoping to place in a wonderful home).

The Blessing of the Animals service will take place at Goodale Park in the gazebo on Sunday, August 29 at 11 am. As the web site states, “all creatures, big and small, are welcome!” So bring your own beloved companion animals out to celebrate and receive a special blessing as a way of honoring the Gaul feline family. Following the service, there will also be a picnic at the Gardener’s cottage.

As Charlene wrote, she is very “excited about this opportunity to help and to bless the memory of the Gaul kitties.”

If you would like to participate in this lovely remembrance of eleven very beloved cats, I can think of no better way than by attending this service and asking that your own special animals be blessed.

The Blessing of the Animals custom comes as a way to celebrate Saint Francis of Assisi, who loved all creatures. To read more about this custom, visit the Dearborn Animal Shelter web site and scroll down until you see the picture of Saint Francis and the word “Custom.” This explains nicely why our animals deserve the love and blessings we give them and why this custom honors Saint Francis.

While we may bless our animals in this lovely celebration, most of us know that we are the ones who are truly blessed to have them in our lives each day.

The image shown at the top is “Sister Frances Blessing 5 Cats” (you can’t see all five cats in this version), which was designed by Jean Batzell Fitzgerald. You can purchase the image on t-shirts and see other artwork she has created to honor cats at her web sites: Cat Art Gifts and Kitty Cat Designs. She took an image of Saint Francis and modified it to be a woman blessing cats, which I felt was very, very appropriate to honor Carol’s kitties.

Last week, Lisa, one of our adopters (she adopted a kitten, Maddie, a few years ago and then last year helped her mom adopt two kittens from us), wrote to ask if Black and Orange could help with a kitten that her mom found dumped near the family’s barn. Lisa said that it looked as if someone “literally threw him from the car.” Lisa went on to say that “his face is scraped and his bottom lip looks like it was torn off and he has tar in his fur. Mom has him eating and drinking and he’s super friendly, but he definitely needs to see a vet and get some medical attention.”

From Lisa’s email, I didn’t realize what terrible shape this poor baby was in. It sounded like a few scrapes and bruises that could be healed with antibiotics. And even though she said, “his bottom lip looks like it was torn off,” I was not prepared for what was going on with this little guy.

I told Lisa to take “Oliver” to Noah’s Ark Vet Hospital in Dublin, so last Friday, she did. I stopped in later Friday evening and Dr. Achtel pulled out the digital camera to show me Oliver’s lower jaw. As you can see in the photos I posted, it looks as if his lower jaw is missing. In the photos Dr. Achtel had me look at, he had to explain to me what I was looking at–when the jaw was open and closed, because I could not tell. It just looked like a mass of raw flesh. I was cringing, thinking of this poor kitten trying to survive–and he is only a kitten. Dr. Achtel said he weighed less than two pounds and was probably only eight weeks old. Just a baby and someone did this to him either from the trauma of being tossed out of a car or something else too horrible to imagine.

Dr. Achtel was sending the photos around to his veterinary colleagues, because he was not sure how to proceed. He said the lower jaw may need to be completely rebuilt and there was not enough skin the way it was to cover up the exposed bones (yes, there are exposed bones). They had sent Oliver home with Lisa and her mom on antibiotics to treat him for the infection that had set in. Dr. Achtel told me he had never seen anything like Oliver’s condition before. Now, you know you are dealing with excellent veterinarians when, instead of acting worried, they can’t wait to work on the challenge to help an animal in need–that was exactly Dr. Achtel’s attitude.

Dr. Achtel also said that Oliver was eating and playing and did not act as if he was in pain. He just could not believe the resiliency of kittens. We discovered the same thing, however, back in April with our little Bean Bag, who also had a broken jaw from being hit in the face with a blunt object. Bean Bag tried to carry a ball around in his mouth and ate like a champ. Dr. West’s test for euthanasia is always if they will eat, she will not put them to sleep. Both Bean Bag and Oliver passed the test.

Lisa sent me photos of Oliver, not knowing that I had already seen the clinical pictures Dr. Achtel took. She told me that she was taking him back to Noah’s Ark this Friday and that he had been on the antibiotics, which were helping to heal his other scrapes and cuts.

She told me, “Oliver is absolutely the sweetest thing and has the biggest heart. You’d never know he was even in pain. He just wants to snuggle and love and play. I attached some pictures of him for you. As you can see in the pictures, he doesn’t have his mouth open, that’s just his exposed jaw where his skin was ripped away. His other cuts and scraps are healing nicely. He got a little bath this weekend so he’s looking less shabby!”

Bless Lisa and her mom for caring for this guy. I am continually ashamed at what we humans do to animals, but equally restored in my faith in our goodness by people like Lisa and her mom and the wonderful veterinarians we work with. I am also always amazed that cats so easily forgive and love us.

I’ll keep everyone posted on Oliver, but please send lots of good thoughts his way.

Being presented by Dogtime, The Petties 2010 are awards given for the best pet blogs in four categories: Best Pet Blog, Best Dog Blog, Best Cat Blog, and Best Cause Related Blog.

I would encourage you to take a look at some of these blogs and also vote for your favorite. There are some really interesting views on dogs, cats, and the world of rescue. 

BlogPaws is a group of pet bloggers who have banded together to help each other and the animals they love. So check them out. And also vote for your favorite blog to win a Pettie: Vote for The Petties

I have to warn you, next year, I want all of you to make this blog so popular that B and O will have a nomination (and a win) in the Petties!