The Opinionated Pussycat

WCB #359 1/2th Meets Carnival of the Cats #424!

Good morning Felinity Assembled!

Elvira Mistress of Felinity here, to save the day!

Seems somehow this weekend got left off the regular WCB Rotation, hence the New Math, and my playing host to 2 hallowed events, instead of one!

WCB'ers can either leave their entries in the Comments for me to round up thru the day, or submit to  carnivalofthecats(at)gmail.com

WCB & Carnival submissions will be accepted until 6pm PST, today !

This post will then be updated, soon after, to share all the fun! :-D

Carnival of the Cats is a weekly roundup of Cat-related posts on weblogs, in America, and around the world, who choose to submit a post for inclusion.

For us Cat Bloggers the Carnival is a chance to discover blogs we might never have heard of, on subjects of all kinds!

The Carnival Home Page, with an archive of past Carnivals, the Line-up for 2012 (2 openings to host are still left for the taking!), FAQ'S, and more, is HERE.

****730pm! It's SHOW TIME!****

1. Let's begin with Mog's moving tribute to her beloved Meowza, who recently went to Rainbow Bridge quite unexpectedly.

 

Would You Want THIS Guy Scritchin' YOUR Chin?

Elvira Mistress of Felinity asks....Would You Want THIS Guy Scritchin' YOUR Chin? :-D

 

Ain't our Daddy silly? :-D

Seen and Heard 23: Union Station, L.A.

Good evening, Felinity Assembled!

Elvira Mistress of Felinity, here, & I'm hosting this edition because it directly applies to me, hee, hee! :-D

On Saturday Daddy took a trip to the campus of USC, in L.A., for the Festival of Books, and throughout the day he was asked about our blog, because of his special shirt, and passed out a number of copies of our card. :-D

As he was walking thru the station, to catch the bus to the college, he saw something that he thought would make a great photo.

However, he got a bit more than he bargained for!

Yes, I've got Groupies....

Elvira Fans, and Fanatics?

I know, I know, it sounded rather Fishy when Daddy first told me about it, too, but here's the proof, so it can't be doubted. :-D

NOTE: For more from the Daddy Cam see the Archive! 

Daddy, like the fictional Dr. Doolittle, understands the words of many critters, and the things he's heard them say, about Cats especially, have always been interesting to us.

Far too many Humans have no clue how often Cats come up in conversations among other animals...now Daddy, and Meowsings, set out to reveal what is going on right under their noses. ;-D

Seen & Heard: Critters With Cats on the Brain

 

FNN SPECIAL REPURRT: Felinity Assembled Mourns Loss of a Legend

Good evening Felinity Assembled.....Nikita here, with Elvira Mistress of Felinity, and Daddy Kiril, alongside.

It is with a heavy heart that we come to you, tonite.

Susan Strong, known to all as Ms. Mog, is the Human who shares her life with her Cats on her Blog Mind of Mog, and whose Cat, Meowza, was a legend in the Cat Blogging Community with a blog of his own.

Susan also runs The Carnival of the Cats Website, and holds the keys to another legend, the Carnival itself.

She is a valued friend to our Daddy Kiril, and we Kitties value her as well, and enjoy getting to know her Feline Companions.

We were shocked, and saddened, to learn of the sudden, unexpected, death of Meowza, on Sunday.

We extend our deepest condolenses to Mog, and to Ritzi, Mother of Meowza, who also has a blog.

Rest in Peace, dear Meowza....Don't get into too much trouble at Rainbow Bridge! :-D

I wish to share a poem I wrote, in 2010, at another tragic time for our community...

How Kind You Are: A Song of Comfort for When Furry Friends Go to Rainbow Bridge
 
Amazing Mommy, how kind you are,
That loves a Cat like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was alone, but now, have Thee.
   
T'was You that taught...
my heart such joy.
And You, my fears relieved.
How precious are from you my toys...
that I've received.
   
Through many dangers, toils and cares...
we have already come.
T'was You, and the Vet that brought me safe thus far...
and give me a healthy home.
   
The Ceiling Cat has promised good to me...
He brought me You to live secure.
You my shield and protector be...
as long as life endures.
   
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall end,
I shall possess within the veil,
a life of joy thanks to you my friend.
   
When we've gone thru all my 9 lives...
each day so much fun.
I will meow my praise...
as much as when we first begun.
   
Amazing Mommy, how kind you are,
That loves a Cat like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was alone, but now, have Thee

FNN SPECIAL REPURRT: The No Kill Animal Shelter Revolution 7

Good evening, Felinity Assembled, for anyone who missed the start of this series, you can read it here.

Welcome to the last chapter in this series, and thank you to all who have read it, and spread the word about it.

Tonite I want to introduce you to 3 websites playing a roll in spreading the word, via their websites, and numerous reports, and exposes, about 2 organizations who have built 2 distinctly different reputations in the Animal Welfare Movment...and how all is not what most people think, with regrds to these organizations.

 

Humane Watch has been keeping a watchful eye on the Humane Society of the United States at least since February 2010.

Why?

They explain it this way:

"The dog-watchers at the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) need their own watchdog too. HSUS now has an annual budget around the size of an NFL payroll. It has become too big and too unaccountable. Someone has to pay closer attention.

This blog is an attempt to make sense of what’s going on inside that sprawling organization.

Is the Humane Society of the United States all good? All bad? The truth probably lies somewhere in between. And there are many conflicting assessments of its performance."

The HSUS is a national group with no ties to your local Humane Society Shelter.

Charity Rating Services have been mixed in their assessments, but Humane Watch explains it this way: They "don’t dig very deep into anyone’s programs, and they don’t look at much beyond a tax return."

Humane Watch digs deeper, and they have quite the Document Library.

They have collected documents going back to the early days of the HSUS, in 1954, and classified them into 14 different categories.

They have promoted a list of Shelters in every state in its "Daily Humane Bites" feature, making no distiction between Kill & No KIll, with the feeling that supporting these places is more responsible than supporting the HSUS.

They have created 6 ads, such as the one above, to promote public awareness about the troubling side to HSUS.

They have a Blogroll of 38 organizations, and websites, that do similar work to what they do.

Visit, and explore Humane Watch.

 

New Ways to Follow This Blog & Share Your Favorite Meowsings

As Humans, or member of Felinity Assembled, reading this blog, this month, may have noticed, there are some new buttons to play with in the bottom of posts, and pages, and in the sidebar. :-D

There are new share buttons for sharing this blog, and your favorite posts, on your various Social Networks, from Facebook, & Google + to Pinterest, Stumble Upon, Twitter, and dozens more in between.

And, if you like getting our posts in your e-mail inbox your can subscribe to our Feedburner powered feed.

If you need incentive to do either of those then let the compliment we received, this morning, inspire you:

Scratchings & Sniffings Blog 4/19/12 "We are lucky to have these smart kitties covering" Serious Issues!" :-D

FNN SPECIAL REPURRT: The No Kill Animal Shelter Revolution 6

Good evening, Felinity Assembled, for anyone who missed the start of this series, you can read it here.

Tonite I want to introduce you to 4 websites playing a roll in spreading the word about the No Kill Nation Shelter Movement.

1. The No Kill Advocacy Center was begun, in 2004, by Nathan J. Winograd.

The center's No Kill Equation is the only model that has been successful in creating a No Kill community.

The Equation promotes 11 seperate programs, and services, required for a successful No Kill Facility, and you can read all about these programs, here.

For Shelter Reform to be successful, the site recommends that people get informed, be thorough, be successful, don't settle, and require accountbility, and explains what each of these ideas means.

There are links, and PDF's realted to Dogs, & Cats, and to info related to understanding the No Kill Philosophy, Improving Shelter Operations, Legislation.

 Check it all out here.

2. The Annual No Kill Conference describes itself this way:

"Join the nation’s most successful shelter directors, animal lawyers, and shelter reformers for an inspiring and empowering conference that will help you save lives.

This is the only national conference that says we can end the killing and we can do it today!"

You can learn more, including about speakers, and seminars, here.

3.  No Kill Nation is a Florida based organization in the process of building their website, and they explain their mission this way...

""our mission and passion is to educate, enlighten and inspire all of us to know that there is a better way. That the status quo is a betrayal to our kindred spirits. The mass systematic shelter killing of the innocent loving souls, whose only crime is that they are unable to find a loving, caring home, is immoral, unacceptable, and unnecessary. With compassionate dedication we will
and must finally end this injustice, for only then shall we find true redemption."

Stay tuned for more on their website, and connect with them on Facebook, and Twitter, in the meantime.

4. No-Kill Community News is a remarkable, and important,  blog, begun last July, with an important purpose...

"To Track open-admission no-kill shelters.  “Open-admission” (also known as “open-intake”) shelters are obligated to take in strays (either serving as animal Thyecontrol themselves or accepting strays from animal control) and animals surrendered by people who live in the area served by the shelter — in other words, these shelters cannot pick and choose what animals they take in or how many animals they take in.  “No-kill” shelters are ones that maintain a 90% or better live release rate.  That is, 90% or more of the animals that come into the shelter leave it alive, whether they go to an adoptive home, a rescue, or are returned to their owners.  More and more shelters are managing to be both open-admission and no-kill, which is a revolution in animal sheltering."

Their sidebar lists links to:

32 Open-Admission No-Kill Communities, And Counting.

8 No-Kill Shelters in Progress, and 15 Communities to Watch for developements.

4 Internation No Kill locations.

They have a page with stats to help no-kill advocates to make their case to shelter management or to city or county officials.

 

They also have a page with links to other resources.

 

Visit the site, here.

 

The Final Chapter = FNN SPECIAL REPURRT: The No Kill Animal Shelter Revolution 7

What Daddy Got Us from Nip & Bones Furrz Mob

Good evening Felinity Assembled!

Nikita, here. :-D

We have known Salina Gannon, the Human Mom to Baby Patches of Nip & Bones store, and the blog Confessions of the Plume, for at least a couple of years, I think, and Daddy Kiril has even met Salina in person, last year.

As everyone knows, last month there was a Furrz Mob of a shopping spree held at her online store, to raise money to help her stay in business.

Daddy bought us some cool stuff, but kept it a secret as to just what.

We finally got the box in the mail, and set about checking out its very cool contents. :-D

  

Taking a Break in Order to Feed, & Amuse, You

Good evening Felinity Assembled!

Daddy is going to be out of town most of tomorrow so Idecided to take tonite, and tomorrow, off, and give all this serious stuff a brief break.

The first thing we did was make sure you, our fans, can more easily feed yourself your regular diet of this blog. :-D

Deep in the bottom of the 2nd sidebar, barely noticed, has long been a link to the feed for this blog, but we've never known how many actually were getting our posts in their inbox.

Today Daddy signed on to Feedburner as the provider, and stat tracker, for that feed, and the feed for his blog, as well. :-D

There is now a Button, under the Share Buttons in the top of the near sidebar, for anyone who wants to subscribe to click on, and get the feed. ;-D

Tomorrow evening we will be sharing some fun, and amusing, photos of Elvira, and I, checking out the cool stuff Daddy bought us from Baby Patches Store at Nip & Bones! :-D

FNN SPECIAL REPURRT: The No Kill Animal Shelter Revolution 5

Good evening, Felinity Assembled, for anyone who missed the start of this series, you can read it here.

Tonite I want to share links to a declaration, a website and proposed legislation, related to the No Kill Shelter Movement, and what it hopes to accomplish.

You, and your Human can read them at your leisure, as they are all interesting, thought provoking, and well worth your time.

Nathan J. Winograd was the primary author of the Declaration of the No Kill Movement in the United States, witten in Sept. 2005.

As he explains:  “No Kill is a revolution. And behind every revolution is a declaration—a statement of grievances, and a listing of rights and principles that underscore our great hope for the future. We assert that a No Kill nation is within our reach—that the killing can and should be brought to an end.

Join us in endorsing The Declaration of the No Kill Movement in the United States.”

No Kill sheltering models, based on non-lethal programs and services are cropping up all over the nation, and this declaration makes the case for ending population control killing methods of sheltering that have been the norm for over a century, and expanding methods that include ensuring public access to affordable spay/neuter services, allowing rescue groups to save animals on death row, and communitywide Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) for feral cats.

Whereas the No Kill Resolution has 15 Whereas's, now, therefore be it resolved, that I encourage you, and your Human, to read the Statement of Rights, Guiding Principles, and No Kill Standards, and ponder them thoughtfully.

Once you have done so please encourage your Human to consider joining over 30,000 animal lovers, animal advocates, and animal groups in the U.S. who have read, and signed the No Kill Declaration....Daddy Kiril has signed it this very evening.