Memorial Day

Our Hearts are Broken in a MILLION Pieces

I woke up this morning to the heartbreaking news about the horrific event that took place on May 13th that took the life of precious Crockett from Lone Star Cats. (I am rarely online anymore and only check email every few days and didn't know until now).......I simply do not have the words, I am just overcome with sadness and shock. Cody and I send our deepest love and sympathy. It is simply tragic and I just can't write more because I am devastated by this news.

Photo from Lone Star Cats

I hope they do not mind that we are sharing their photo. Please share thoughts of sympathy here, if you haven't already.

We will miss you precious Crockett..........we are just so sad.

We just found out about "Wear Orange For Crockett Day" and while Cody isn't wearing orange, he is resting in a sea of orange in honor of Crockett.

Introducing the PetVibe Travel Portal! TRAVEL. SAVE MONEY. MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The PetVibe Foundation has taken a significant step in bringing together world-class pet rescue and animal welfare organizations to create a one-of-a-kind charitable program that supports animals in need while making a difference in the lives of the members. If you love helping animals and traveling, then this may be the program for you!

Everything from metropolitan humane societies to worldwide charitable foundations to help for the fallen military service members through service dogs has been combined into an ambitious and impressive roster of beneficiaries, and the best part is members need only book their next vacation through the PetVibe Travel program to make the magic happen! 

Here's how it works:

When a member books travel through the PetVibe Travel program, not only do they get below-market rates on flights, hotels (pet-friendly filter available) and car rentals, but a contribution is also generated to support one of the organization's partner pet charities. Members can choose to support their favorite organization or select the PetVibe Foundation itself and have their contributions evenly distributed to all the participating organizations. Thousands of hotel chains, airlines and car rental companies are already a part of this awesome program!

PetVibe Travel Members can save as much as 60%

 at hotels like the Westin or Marriott across North America 

while raising funds for animal welfare!

One needs to spend only a few minutes browsing social media, and especially the various video sites to see changing the lives of pets and the people who adopt them is an increasingly high priority throughout society. An encouraging development in the past five to ten years has been a renewed focus on the plight of shelter pets, rescue organizations and various not-for-profit initiatives established to care for animals in difficult circumstances. funds for animal welfare!

There can be no reasonable doubt that nearly everyone would do more to help if there were an easy and effective way to do so. Despite the fact most of our charitable initiatives have been streamlined to one degree or another, the pressures of everyday tasks and family commitments sometimes make it difficult to devote the necessary time to what all agree is a worthy cause. The power of PetVibe Travel is that members can raise funds for animal-welfare organizations without making any changes to their usual routines, it's as simple as booking your regular travel and the rest is taken care of. It takes only 1,000 people to book travel through PetVibe to generate as much as $70,000/year for their organization of choice!  PetVibe Travel is a real way to create long-term impact for the organizations that are working to help animals in need!

The organizations that can benefit from this new campaign are as varied as they are worthy. What better way to make a difference in the lives of pets and their future owners than to get yourself some time off and save money while contributing to a great cause? One hundred percent of all contributions go directly to help PetVibe's nonprofit partner organizations, and you'll be happy to know these organizations are among the world's best at helping where help is needed most.

Join us today, take a trip, enjoy the scenery and be secure in the knowledge you've changed a deserving animal's life.

To learn more, please visit www.petvibefoundation.com
This program is free to participate in and includes 24/7 travel support. One hundred percent of the funds generated through this program go to the selected organization, PetVibe takes no fees.

Follow on Social Media:

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

Get started free:

1.      Download the free PetVibe App from the App Store or Google Play 

2.      Click on the "Foundation" icon from the main App Menu

3.      Select the organization that you would like to support (Love them all? Select the PetVibe Foundation and we will distribute 100% of the generated funds equally)

4.      Start booking and saving!

FTC DISCLOSURE: we received no compensation for sharing this information. We thought it was interesting when we were contacted and will always share things of interest with our readers.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day

To all of the purrfect Mommies, 

as well as men who have taken 
on the role of "Mommy"


and all of the other fabulous
"mothering" role models
  out there, that may not
have textbook "children" of their own!

It doesn't matter if the babies are

 2-legged minus fur,

or 4-legged with fur,

or if the babies,

swim, slither, 

fly, crawl, gallop or hop...

a Mother's love is just the same!!

Cat-Human Relationships: capture connections on camera for charity photo competition

 International Cat Care (iCatCare) has once again started its search for the world’s best cat photographers, with the 2019 launch of its annual photography competition.

iStock.com-LindaYolanda
from iCatCare

This year, in collaboration with Britain’s best-selling cat magazine Your Cat Magazine, the charity is looking to celebrate and showcase the complex and fascinating cat-human bond and the many different forms it can take with a brand-new theme of ‘Cat-Human Relationships’. 

Amateur and professional photographers from across the globe are invited to enter photographs of cats and humans together. The judges want to see a range of relationships covering an assortment of situations, locations and ages. For instance, entries can include but are not limited to: pet cats with their owners in the home, street cats with the public and cats with those who work with them eg, veterinary professionals with their patients and homing center workers with the cats in their care.

Since its launch in 2013, the competition has collectively attracted over 15,000 entries from all over the world. Eve Davies, who runs the competition, said: "Whilst we tend to think of our relationship with cats as that of pet and owner, cats and humans can have a huge variety of unique connections with each other and we would love to see this reflected in the entries."

photo courtesy of iCatCare

Twelve winning images will be selected by the iCatCare and Your Cat Magazine judges to feature in the charity’s 2020 calendar (and other materials) which will be sold to raise funds for the charity’s work, with one of these being crowned the overall winner and gracing the front cover. All twelve winners will each receive a certificate, copies of the calendar and a selection of iCatCare merchandise. The overall winner will also receive £500 in prize money.

Emily Wardle, Editor for Your Cat Magazine, said: ‘We are delighted to be teaming up with iCatCare to launch this photography competition with a topic close to our heart. As our readers know, there’s nothing more special than the bond between cat and human — and this can take many forms. We can’t wait to see the entries and publish the winning images in the magazine to share them with our readers.’

To find out more and to enter, visit: icatcare.org/photography-competition. The competition is now open for entries and will run until 10 am (BST) on 1 July 2019. Winners will be announced on iCatCare and Your Cat Magazine’s social media accounts shortly after.

KittyCat Art Studio: "Purrfect" Handcrafted Cat Decor

courtesy of KittyCat Art Studio

Hi furiends! On April 30th, I shared the darling painting of Cody (see below) that was created by KittyCatArtStudio.com  as a result of my winning a give-away  that was held by Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat.) 


My painting is a "Tabby Cat in a Flower Pot" (you can see other examples above and on the KittyCat Art Studio website). 

I wish you could see this in person to appreciate how unique it is. It is hand-made by Laura Anglemoyer of KittyCat Art Studio. It was painted using acrylic paints. It measures 14 inches tall by 9 inches wide and is able to be used indoors or OUTDOORS because it has a weather resistant coating. It can be hung by using the wire on the back.

When you place an order with Laura her warmth and friendliness as well as professionalism is evident every step of the way. She will offer suggestions if needed, (I pretty much let her take over the entire creative process behind Cody's flower pot because she is so talented that I wanted to leave the decision-making up to her. I received a proof each time I made a change.)

KittyCat Art Studio is a family owned studio and shop. Owner Laura Anglemoyer hand paints each piece that she creates.  Laura's husband takes her original design sketches and creates the metal or wood art pieces from her sketches, then he brings them to Laura to hand paint them. Laura and her husband have over 30 years of experience each!!! Each piece is created with pride and much love. 

Laura is an "Artist of Cats" Her style is graphic realism. She prefers to work in three dimension and loves working with polymer clay, metal and wood.

Laura has a BFA in Industrial Design from R.I.T., she has worked as a presentation artist and retail store interior designer and retail fixture designer. She began creating cat ornaments and paintings as a personal hobby when she was expecting her youngest daughter.

courtesy of KittyCat Art Studio

Laura loves animals, especially cats. Like the rest of us, she knows first paw about how much joy they bring to our lives and how they help to relax us in this fast-paced, often crazy world in which we live.

KittyCat Art Studio has cat ornaments, cat desk items, customized cat paintings and signs and more!!

courtesy of KittyCat Art Studio

I wasn't required AT ALL, nor was I paid to share this today. I wanted to blog about Cody's flower pot because I LOVE IT THAT MUCH.  I have it hanging in my kitchen where I can see it every single day. The way Laura captured Cody's expression is beyond special to me, it is a piece that I will treasure forever.  I hope you will visit her site and purchase something unique for yourself or all of the cat lovers in your life!! KittyCat Art Studio's creations are purrfect for Mother's Day gifts or ANYTIME gifts. If you would like to do some Mother's Day shopping, they are offering 10% off of many items now through Mother's Day. I would pounce on this opportunity if I were you, that's for sure!


KittyCat Art Studio is on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook.

Fly Free Sweet Samantha

You may leave messages of comfort

 to our dear friend Jan and her family here