I've been lying here with my toes curled, nowhere near the stinky rug!
Saturday: I'm out enjoying the sunshine today, because tonight we're doing something very important ... Tonight is Earth Hour, and we're joining millions of people around the world to make a statement about climate change by switching off all our lights and non-essential appliances from 8 p.m. until 9 p.m. Even one light matters and you can make a difference!
And, speaking of March 31, that's the last day of our March Madness Fundraisers for Moki, Project H.A.M. and Lilly Lu. We still have some cell phone charms, necklaces & bookmarks left, along with cat greeting cards, flower greeting cards and Earthrights notecards & fine art prints.
Wait! I have an idea ...
I think I'll do some bed thrashing! Okay, assume the position, and ...
THRASH! Thrash back & forth faster than the eye can see ...
Ah, yes, bed thrashing is what keeps this 18-year-old ladycat young & wild-eyed!
Miral, we're devoting all our efforts today to sending you healing purrs and purrayers for a miracle. 
First, a nice relaxing foot bath and facial massage ...
My colorful toes are near-perfect now ...
Ahhh ... yes ... perfection!
I've been tagged by KC, Missy et al and Mickey for the Middle Name Meme. Here's how it works:
Okay, staff ... right after I tag Senator Henry Jackson Edward Graves III for the Middle Name Meme, as your Loving Leader .....
We talked to Lilly Lu's mama Laura Friday; the good news is that Lilly Lu is home from the Tufts University vet, at least for now, but is still facing probable surgery after more test results come in next week.
During the long wait for Clinton's arrival at 10:45 a.m., I opened Cheysuli's local campaign headquarters next door to the Saratoga ...
With the premises secure, I allowed no more than 100 people inside the restaurant at 9 a.m. While the Secret Service strip-searched each one of them, my human artists Sharolyn and Suzanne and I discussed my strategy over coffee ...
When Senator Clinton arrived, she ignored the crowd and came directly to me so we could get down to business ...
To her credit, she was most gracious, even gave me a few gratuitous chin scritches ... obviously a political ploy to soften my firm determination that Cheysuli must be our next President ...
However, Suzanne and I pointed out to Senator Clinton that I was unwavering in my support for Chey. I cited a plethora of crises in this country that Clinton has ignored: Universal cat care; No Cat Left Behind; the financial crises of the cat middle class; the rising cost of cat food and nip; and the exhorbitant energy costs of keeping us warm. I pointed out to her that the cat middle class is the core of the American economy; it is the backbone of our nation and it can no longer be ignored. We work harder, we work longer hours, we don't take as many vacations. And yet our green papers are disgracefully dropping ...
"Hey wait! Don't walk away from me with that noncommittal smile on your face! I'm not finished yet ..." 
Senator Clinton explained to me that she did not meet with cat leaders without preconditions, one of which was that I would not show up wearing my Chey for President tee-shirt ... so, being a master of diplomacy, I removed it before we moved outside to address the crowd.
All in all, my summit with Senator Clinton was a productive one, and I believe that even if after considering my irrefutable points she ultimately decides to stay in the race, she will at least turn her attention to these urgent cat matters ... Especially since I finally convinced her that I was NOT the State Department contract employee who breached her passport file last year.
Oscar (tailless, left): Wake up LittleGirl, and get your tuxie tail in gear, since I don't have one. As Artsy Catsy's Maintenance Manx, I need to check all our facilities and I need your assistance.
The most wonderful thing has happened! We were contacted by someone who wishes to remain an "anonymous benefactor" ... who is going to MATCH the funds we raise for Lilly Lu and Moki! That means that for every $40 Earthrights print sold, the $30 for Lilly Lu and Moki will become $60 ... every $100 raised in our Earthrights and Cat Greeting Card sale will become $200!! ... If we can raise $500, it will become $1,000!!
battling an undiagnosed condition. She needs surgery for bladder stones, but her vets believe they’re secondary to some unidentified condition and they don’t want to perform surgery until they diagnose the problem. Lilly Lu needs to see specialists and her mama has already spent $2,000, using most of her living expenses. Lilly's mama is expecting twins, so she desperately needs our help.
ki has an undiagnosed "new" neurological disease that makes it nearly impossible for him to walk. His family has spent thousands of dollars so far, and the ongoing quest to find a way to treat Moki and to improve his quality of life is likely to involve thousands more.
We're resting up today, because tomorrow we have an exciting, important announcement about our Fundraiser for Lilly Lu and Moki!Several years ago when Viagra was put on the market, I remember making the offhand remark that it was no wonder ED drugs were needed, since our drinking water was probably full of female hormones from birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy. It’s now a known fact that such drugs in waterways around the world are ‘feminizing’ male fish.
Think about it – we all take medications, some of which are absorbed, but the rest is eliminated by our bodies in urine and ends up back in our water supply.
Last week a major study was released. Not only female hormones, but antibiotics; antidepressants; mood stabilizers; cholesterol drugs; anti-convulsants; pain medications; asthma medications; heart and blood pressure medications, and a host of other prescription drugs – as well as over-the-counter drugs such as ibuprofen and Tylenol – contaminate the water supplies of more than 41 million Americans.
Only 28 of our water sources were tested, and all but 3 contained drugs; this included 24 major metropolitan cities. In
Even worse, adding chlorine -- as is done in nearly all water treatment plants – makes some pharmaceuticals even more toxic. And any pharmacist can tell you that combinations of drugs can be deadly. Finally, most of us are aware of the growing problem of antibiotic overuse creating drug-resistant strains of viral and bacterial diseases.
But human waste isn’t the only source of contamination. For decades, beef cattle and other animals for consumption are given ear implants of an anabolic steroid, trenbolone, used by some bodybuilders, which causes cattle and hogs to bulk up. We are EATING this drug -- and we may be feeding it to our pets.
Let me share a personal story. In 1970 I worked for a major manufacturer of this drug. One day a month, anyone who had never had any kind of a tumor was required to work in a building on the outskirts of the property. We were outfitted in “toxic hazard” spacesuits and helmets, to help prevent our bodies from absorbing the drug … even through our eyes.
Our job was place these anabolic steroid pellets onto cards and shrinkwrap them.
In two months – or about 8 days exposure to this drug, fully outfitted in a hazard suit, I developed a grapefruit-sized tumor on my back and two smaller ones on my thighs that required surgery. Fortunately they were benign. Over the next year I was repeatedly hospitalized, with several surgeries, for severe hormone imbalances and hemorrhaging.
We are eating this drug, along with anabolic steroids that end up in our drinking water!
How could this happen? Several contributing factors are: a) Water providers do not disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings unless they are forced to do so. b) The
Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but I would also add: c) The pharmaceutical industry is a huge and politically powerful one. Why should they be concerned ... after all, new diseases = new drugs = more revenue. Perhaps they have a vested interest in our drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day to try to stay 'healthy'? Personally, I think the pharmaceutical industry should be required to fund the upgrading of all our water treatment facilities, and keep them upgraded as they develop new drugs, in order to assure that their products are not poisoning life on this planet. They can afford it. In fact, they could probably accomplish this by doing nothing more than diverting their massive advertising budgets to this effort.
But please consider that contaminated water affects not only humans, but wildlife -- and our beloved pets as well. Given that we cat lovers know that even a tiny amount of Tylenol will poison or kill a cat, how can the consumption of Tylenol along with a vast combination of drugs formulated for much larger humans NOT harm our babies?
In an article in the PetPlace.com newsletter, Dr. Debra Primovic, a
Even if the top experts have no idea how this long-term consumption of drugs in drinking water will affect human health, much less the health of our pets, I ask you to consider some statistics:
- In recent years, the number of
- In recent years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease, AIDS and many more. And severe allergies are dramatically on the rise -- have more than tripled in some studies.
It isn’t necessary to be an “expert” to strongly suspect that there may be a connection between these statistics.
I’ll stop ranting now, but this made me think of how many kitties in the Blogosphere have struggled with ‘new’ or ‘undiagnosable’ illnesses ... as well as how many suffer from cancer and other diseases that have long been linked to exposure to pollutants.
It also made me think of some of my past artwork, created when I did volunteer fundraising work for the Hoosier Environmental Council … again, like my cat greeting cards, packed away in my basement storeroom. This line of environmental images, named “Earthrights”, consists of both fine art prints and notecards.
I want to put them to good use, in fundraisers to help specific kitties whose veterinary bills are astronomical because 1) their vets have difficulty diagnosing their illness, or 2) who are considered to have a ‘new’ disease. I’ve chosen Moki and Lilly Lu as the recipients of this first fundraiser, which will run through March 31.
Lilly Lu is battling an undiagnosed condition. She needs surgery for bladder stones, but her vets believe they’re secondary to some unidentified condition, possibly even cancer, and they don’t want to perform surgery until they determine what is causing the stones and abnormal bloodwork. But now they’re stumped and want Mama Laura to take Lilly Lu to a specialist at
Moki is a new friend whose mama has spent thousands of dollars since July helping the then tiny stray kitty with an undiagnosed neurological disease, which causes him to have tremors and makes it nearly impossible for him to walk. The current consensus is that he suffers from a ‘new’ disease, and the ongoing quest to determine what it is and to improve his quality of life is likely to involve thousands more.Please help us help Lilly Lu and Moki! A sample of the Earthrights images in our fundraiser is below. For each hand-tinted fine art print sold, $30 will be donated to Lilly Lu and Moki. For every 12 notecards sold, $14 will be donated.
If I were not in financial straits myself, with a houseful of kitties who are all behind on their veterinary care, I would donate
I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to all of you on the Cat Blogosphere for your warm hearts, magnificent friendship, incredible generosity, and the way in which everyone considers everyone else's kitties their own as well. If there's a heaven on Earth, it's right here in the Cat Blogosphere!
Please see all 8 images at
It's a good thing I'm a meticulous C.at E.xecutive O.fficer, because my human artist is so disorganized and daffy ... a real ditz, doofus, dunderhead! Despite her objections, I inventoried (sneaked into) her basement storage room, where I found more of her Cat Greeting Cards! So I insisted that we continue my Cat Greeting Card Sale so we can raise more funds for Lilly Lu's surgery and for the Cat Blogosphere's Cat Friends Helping Friends.
If you missed the Cat Greeting Card clearance when we first posted it ... or we sold out of a design you wanted ... or even if you want to let your friends know about the sale ... now is your chance to help raise some green papers for kitties who don't have enough ... and to own some of my mom's simply pun-derful cat greeting cards! You can see all 10 designs here!
"Blessed be the true judge."
Please send purrs of peace, comfort and healing to the families and fur siblings of Matata and Miss Marilyn.
Thank you so much - I love it!!
Whew! It's finally Friday! I've worked so hard this week I have goobers in my eyes and my mom says I need to wash my face. No time for that!
Hmm, let me give it a whirl ... 
Uh, maybe this one is the wrong size ....
