Secret Paws!!

Rocky: Oh, look! It's our Secret Paws and it's from Bonnie & Victor!

Fracas: Yay! I'll open it!

Rocky: No you won't; I'll open it! Rocky: Look at this! Our very own Artsy Catsy stocking, full of toys!
Fracas: And a nip candy cane! Mine!!
Rocky: I don't think so! Gimme that! Callie: Take a memo, big guys: the nip candy cane is MINE!

Lucy: No way! Oh, I'm sooooo happy the nip candy cane is mine!!

Fracas: Okay, I'll just sit on these Temptations so they won't see them.

Rocky: Hey, get your big butt off MY Temptations!

Fracas: All right, I'll just hide this red mousie on my back.

Thank you so much, Bonnie & Victor, for a fantastic Secret Paws surprise! Beautiful cards with pictures of you, lots of Bonker Balls, mousies, jingle toys and that nip candy cane that belongs to ..... uh ... somecat. What's that? ... oh, our human artist says we have to sign off now and listen to a lecture about sharing ...

13 Christmas Miracles

Here are Thirteen Christmas Miracles we're purraying for:

1) All neglected, abused, and abandoned pets and children will find loving furever homes and there will never be another mistreated animal or child.

2) All nations will heed the wise words of Mahatma Ghandi: "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way it treats its animals."

3) All humans will love and support each other the way all Cat Blogosphere kitties and their families love and support each other ... a sure way to bring "Peace on Earth"!

4) Together we will raise enough money for Cat Friends Helping Friends at the Cat Blogosphere to help every kitty through any emergency they might have.

5) We will also help raise enough money for the Rescue Farm to become the "Best Friends" of the midwest so they can help many, many more animals in need.

6) A cure for cancer will be found. Cancer touches all our lives: one in three humans in America alone will die of cancer, and more than one-third of all cats will die of cancer ... and these numbers are increasing.

7) Our troops will come home safely, and there will never be another war to put them in danger.

8) Peace and love will become more important than war and hate.

9) No one in the world will ever again have to do without the basic necessities of life, including food, shelter, affordable medical care, freedom from fear, and loving families and friends.

10) "Love one another" will be not just words on a page, but will become a way of life.

11) "Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me" will be not just song lyrics but a promise.

12) The spirit of Christmas will remain in all our hearts every day forever: "Christmas is not a date ... it is a state of mind."

13) All our blogging friends, and everyone else on Earth, will enjoy long, happy, healthy and fulfilling lives!

Wacky Fracky Wednesday

Rocky: I'm in need of professional advice. My Vice President Fracas has an odd habit that is becoming quite worrisome as well as annoying. He grinds his teeth, constantly, against both inanimate and animate objects! Here you can see him grinding his teeth against banana stems: But it doesn't stop with banana stems. He's been found grinding his teeth against table legs, boxes, chair backs, cabinet handles, faucets ... even against human fingers. If a human just touches the corner of his mouth, he immediately starts grinding!

Mind you, he doesn't actually put the object IN his mouth -- he just puts the corner of his mouth against the object and grinds away, getting a faraway expression in his eyes while his jaws make a loud gruesome gnawing sound!

So what do you think? I've checked his teeth, and they're fine. Is it job stress? Is he obsessive-compulsive? Does he have temporomandibular joint disorder? Is he a neuroticat? Or just weird? Is it a gingercat thing? (I hope not, because I have ginger spots!) I really need answers because this abnormal behavior has earned him the nickname "Wacky Fracky" which is quite embarrassing to my catporation!

Toiling on Tuesday

Rocky: C'mon staff, let's get these orders ready for shipping so they'll get there by Christmas! I'll help the human artists put necklaces, bracelets and bookmarks on Artsy Catsy display cards ... Fracas: Hey, Mr. CEO, remember your own rules ... "The staff shall not chew on or deposit cat spit upon Artsy Catsy products"! Rocky: Hey, I'm the CEO and you're just the Vice President, so stop telling me what to do ... and knock it off with the dirty look or I'll write you up! Callie: All this macho posturing wears me out.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

It's a cold, snowy Sunday here, so the staff commandeered one of the humans' art supplies carts, rolled it in front of a heating vent, and transformed it into a bunkbed Cat Cart:

Who is that ginger cat on the floor, you ask? Well, our silly human artists, not content with trying to accumulate all the cats in the known universe, sometimes make their own!

Photo Hunters: Small

Rocky: Even though I'm the bigwig now at Artsy Catsy,

I was very small when I was first hired:

Then:

Now:

Never underestimate the power of thinking big!!

T-13 Rescue Stories ...

.... that reveal how the Artsy Catsy cat staff was formed ...

Rocky was only one day old when he was rescued in 1999 from the woods near Raccoon Lake, where a raccoon sent his feral mother and fur siblings over the Bridge. Recognizing his potential as a future mover & shaker, he was bottle-fed and burped by his human artist and coddled by Dustbunny, as he quickly moved into the position of CEO (Cat Executive Officer) ...

Callie was rescued in 1990 as a 6-weeks-old feral kitten from a garage by brave members of the Artsy Catsy household wearing helmets, gloves and body armor. She is living proof that you can take the cat from the wild, but can never take the wild from the cat! Her assertive nature serves her well as Rocky’s Catministrative Assistant ...











Lucy was rescued as a young kitten in 1991 when she was found walking the streets. A natural enchantress, Lucy left her streetwalker past behind and positioned herself on a pedestal as the Artsy Catsy Official Spokesmodel ...












LittleGirl, Atlas and Somber were rescued in 1995 from an abandoned house when they were three weeks old. LittleGirl had only one functioning eye, which she focuses on her duties as Quality Control Manager, and Atlas & Somber assumed the role of Artsy Catsy Bookends ...






























Bitsy was adopted in 1996 as a tiny feral kitten by Ugly, an Artsy Catsy outdoor cat, and had never been touched by a human until she was brought inside as a young adult when Ugly passed over the Bridge. Her stealthy ways serve her well as Artsy Catsy’s Director of Corporate Espionage ...

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Oscar was rescued in 2002 with his fur siblings after they were born to a feral momcat in a cord of firewood in the Artsy Catsy neighborhood. Oscar was the only kitten with no tail. His siblings found furever homes, but Oscar was hired as Artsy Catsy’s Maintenance Manx ...












Ivan was rescued in 2003 at one year old from a local pet store that was subsequently shut down due to poor conditions. His high meezer intelligence earned him the position of Information Technology Director at Artsy Catsy ...











Casey was rescued as a kitten in 2002 from a humane shelter in Cleveland, Ohio. His serious nature serves him well as Artsy Catsy’s Corporate Comptroller ...













Fred and Holly were rescued in 1997 as young adults from a humane shelter in Bloomington, Indiana. After traveling the world, they now reside in Rome, Italy with their human voice artist Tiffany. Fred is President of Artsy Catsy’s European Division and Holly, as his Catministrative Assistant, is the power behind the throne ...

Pepper, Artsy Catsy’s Official Woofie, was rescued in 2002 after she wandered into the Artsy Catsy backyard with a stray pitbull, and decided it was time to get a job ...