Name Calling

Marion Nestle refers to people like me as pet guardians/parents. Kinda neat. Everyone knows cats aren't owned by anyone. I certainly protect and care for my kids like a guardian or parent though.

I had a CPS note on an adopter application. CPS. Child (or in this case, Cat) Protective Services? Turns out it was from Chief Pooper Scooper aka Director. Wah. I was in tears. I think that will be QE's new title. He can add that to his alphabet soup professional credentials.

BBF

Six years ago today, I took the day off work to pick up my buddy from the shelter. I got there as soon as it opened because I didn't want my boy to be in there any longer than he had to. My precious boy only cost us $23--feline leukemia test $15, flea treatment $5, collar $3. Talk about the deal of the century! Seriously though, it kinda makes me wonder why anyone would pay $300 to a breeder. We met Davis the weekend before at a public shelter. He was in the sick room because he caught a cold. I held him against my belly. He purred. As we gazed into each other's eyes, I asked if we could be his parents. I told him I wanted to be his mommy. That was the last time I got to hold him without getting smacked or bitten.

His days were already numbered when I contacted the Humane Society about him. Knowing he would probably get put down the weekend of our meeting definitely put pressure on me to adopt him. I don't regret it though. No, Davis is not the perfect cat. He is not normal. I call him special needs, our vet who has a similar cat, calls hers "not very bright" (hahaha). Davis' little heart was broken and he was probably mistreated in his past. He had no reason to trust humans. He didn't know his name when we adopted him. He learned "Davis" in about a week or two, so I don't think his previous humans interacted with him much. It's taken a lot of love and patience for our boy to trust us. What a long journey it's been. So worth it though.

Davis sleeps between my legs in the winter. If I cough excessively, he will walk up to my face and check to see if I am ok. He dashes to greet me when I wake up. He still only purrs and drools for me. That's why we will be best buddies forever.

Cholesterol

QE's cholesterol dropped more than 60 points. No changes in lifestyle other than me "making" him vegetarian. Pretty cool, eh?

He sometimes eats meat but rarely in my presence. It doesn't bother me if he does, but I do wish he ate good, healthy meat that was treated humanely while living.

Apparently salvaged pet food gets fed to the animals raised for human consumption. If you think about it, it's really gross. Pet food is usually made with beef, chicken or turkey by-products like ears, hooves, beaks, organs, etc--all the stuff that can't be made into hot dogs or sausage. If the pet food is non-saleable, it gets sold to farms (if you can call them that) as food for cows, pigs and chickens. So...these animals are forced to be cannibals. Normally this isn't an issue, except that during the pet food scare last year, some tainted food was fed to animals that were then slaughtered for human consumption.

Panic

I forgot that chickens molt in the winter (November-March). As of right now, Polyface has NO EGGS available. What am I going to do??? To make matters worse, my dad wants more eggs. I should encourage him to eat good pastured eggs but I can't provide him with any! How am I going to make it until March without eggs?? Our CSA has been providing us with a dozen almost weekly but it's not a steady supply. Meltdown in 3...2...1...

Plot

http://www.catswhothrowupgrass.com/kill.php

2+0=Bag

I have a bag fetish of sorts. I don't switch purses to match my outfits or anything, but I am always looking for that perfect tote, work bag, or purse. Timbuk2 has a sale on custom bags so of course I had to buy one. I asked my brother if he wanted to piggyback on my order since shipping would have been the same. Fast forward to last weekend and he busts my chops. "Why do you need another bag when you already have one?" Oh yeah...my moment of glory. "We have TWO incomes and ZERO kids, so I can buy as many bags I want and still spend less in a year than the cost of raising a kid." Oooffa! Got my tightwad bro where it hurt! :) Plus my bags' total value don't even come close to the Louis Vuitton bag his wife carries.

Cara and piglet had a mutual curiosity and fascination with each other. Very cute. The moment he walked into our house, Cara rushed over to inspect him. I held piglet's hand out for her to smell and then he gently touched her. Oh boy. He was so amused by her soft fur. He tried to pursue her so he could touch her again. Little sucker is a FAST crawler! Cara and Angel stayed out of piglet's reach most of the time. Treats weren't worth the possible assault from him.

Green Festival

We went to the Green Festival yesterday. It was a lot of fun to see all types of products, services, and advocacy groups there. The highlight for me was meeting Dr. Marion Nestle (rhymes with "wrestle") and having her sign my books. As an academic, she doesn't seem to be as warm and fuzzy or as eloquent as Joel Salatin. Dr. Nestle has another book coming out next year about the conflicts of interest veterinarians may have in putting patients on prescription diets. Most of these foods are corn-based, the very ingredient causing ailments in animals, especially cats.

The festival had a great turnout, lots of awesome vendors (and freebies!), and lots of enthusiastic participants. I think my challenge next year will be to go vegan for a week, AND not have my diet consist primarily of processed, pre-packaged vegan food.

Our CSA is going fantabulously. I am enjoying the autumn share much more than summer. All the beautiful squashes, greens, and eggs are just amazing. Just don't put turnip greens in lasagna. We've also gotten different varieties of apples and pears. There's a semi-tart red apple that I really like. It's very crisp and not mealy at all. The skin isn't all red like red delicious. We got another variety that is just cute--perfect little red apples with a good flavor. It's neat to see apples without that waxy, shiny coating on it. I think they taste better too.

sweater