Kitty in a suitcase

How many of you have had your kitty in a suitcase while you are trying to pack? For Paws, we are packing to go to the BlogPaws conference in Myrtle Beach, SC. We’ve signed up for the Pathfinder’s seminar with hopes of taking Paws for Reflection to a whole new level on the blogosphere.

This Sunday Selfies Blog Hop is being hosted by Cat on My Head

Today, we share our kitties in a suitcase on Kitty Blue’s Sunday Selfie Blog Hop. We ask that you visit all the pawsome blogs that are participating in today’s blog hop, and find out what their kitties have been up to this week.

Taking blogging to a whole new level

We’ve been blogging at Paws for Reflection for five years, and while we are very happy at bringing readers concrete info about cat health, rescue, and news, while sprinkling in some info about travel and humor, we need to get a bigger return on our time investment. We know this year’s Pathfinders seminar at BlogPaws will help us achieve that.

Since being accepted into the workshop, we have been the recipient of a lot of good karma. Not only have we met some dynamo fellow participants, we also have connected with the Fix Felines by Five initiative, and we know Esther Mechler of Miriam’s Dream is going to keep us accountable. We are looking forward to promoting this ever so important cause which can create a whole new status for cats. By having spa/neuter done before the first heat, it will reduce cat overpopulation by mega numbers. If there are less cats, it will elevate their status.Rather than being a dime a dozen, they can be valued for the special creatures they are.

Little Yellow fits right into the suitcase next to the hairdryer.

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Black cats rock, and my Pink Collar has been rocking my world for 17 years.

Pink Collar is a beautiful black cat.

Black cats rock, and my black cats rock my world

Today, we Meet the Cats. Paws must say black cats rock, and my black cats, Pink Collar and Clyde, now geriatric felines, have spent many a year rocking my world.

Clyde is Mom’s cat, and we will talk about him later, because his story follows on the heals of  Pink Collar’s. She is aptly named after her vibrant hot-pink collar that makes her black bear-like coat shine.  Rather than fading into the background, this Pink Collar brings her to the forefront, and her perfect little white star shows what a star she really is.

This Sunday Selfies Blog Hop is being hosted by Cat on My Head

As Paws for Reflection shares Pink Collar’s story with Kitty Blue’s Cat on My Head’s Sunday Blog Hop, we invite our readers to check out some pawsome blog posts from all those participating in today’s Sunday Selfie Blog Hop.

Pink Collar was a shelter cat

Pink Collar was adopted from a shelter, and she has been with the Paws family the longest of any of our living felines. Paws adopted her in December 2001 to give to my Mom. Her Calico cat Sam has passed over the bridge the year before.

When I went to the Animal Refuge League in Westbrook, Maine, I was looking for an older cat. I was shocked to find how few cats were at the shelter, and did not find one that caught my eye, EXCEPT…  There was this one kitten all by herself in the front lobby. She was beautiful – a black cat with beautiful green eyes and a little star on her chest. She was six-months-old. And I thought, would this kitten be a good match for my 72-year-old Mom?

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Make a Pet Toy Using Items in Your Home: Get creative with boxes!

Make a pet toy using items in your home: Get creative with boxes! Cats love to play. They race, pounce, jump, and even slide across the floors. They scale counter-tops and anything that gives them a birds-eye view of the world below. They play with each other and by themselves, and it seems like no matter what, they’re favorite toy, over all others is boxes.

If the boxes are full – no problem! Kitty will want to check them out, or even mark them as his own! If they’re empty, that’s even better! They can become a kitty bed, a tunnel, or whatever your kitty wants them to be!

Make a Pet Toy Using Items in Your Home: Get creative with boxes!

It doesn’t matter how large or small the box is, it provides hours of entertainment. Whether it is just large enough to curl up into for a nap, or if it’s a box big enough for a two-drawer file cabinet, they love it. If there’s more than one, they’ll race from one to the other, or better yet, let one of their feline family members share.

Boxes are a fav as cat toys

Boxes not only entertain the cats, they entertain their humans, as well.

Get creative with boxes and create an obstacle course. Have one upright and another laying down, and you’ve created a tunnel-maze for your cats.

When Paws first adopted my Siamese Linus and his brother Tubby, who has since passed over the Rainbow Bridge, from FIP, they immediately staked out a box that had housed a file cabinet.

Even if the box is full of stuff, cats will stake them out as a new toy.

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Sleeping With Cats

Sleeping with cats can be a challenge for all of our cat lovers. Most prefer not to banish our felines from the bedroom, and invite them to share our beds. Needless to say, by doing so, we have a number of humorous stories to share.

While we don’t have a selfie of Linus sleeping with his human (we’re going to work on that for a later post), we are sharing some selfies of this handsome blue-eyed boy as we participate in this Sunday Selfie Blog Hop, kindly sponsored by Kitty Blue’s The Cat on My Head. We invite you to check out all the blogs of all these pawsome participants.

This Sunday Selfies Blog Hop is being hosted by Cat on My Head

We’re also sharing an infographic provided by Freya at MattressOnline, that can serve as a guide for sleeping with your cat.

My Siamese Linus makes sure he’s at the door when it’s time for his human to go to bed, and even if he is getting bribed with a favorite treat, he runs to the door to make sure he’s not in prime position to share his human’s bed. It takes him a bit to settle down, and he likes to walk over the top of my head, pulling my hair. He then tries to find a favorite side on which he can lay. If his human is not positioned just right, he’ll find an arm to curl up in.

Linus snuggles with his human every night.

Linus think about where’s the best spot to snuggle with my human tonight.

Cats make great therapy pets

Cats make great therapy pets. They have a tremendous calming effect on people, and there’s nothing more peaceful than having a kitty snuggle up to you, or purr when sitting in your lap.

Cats make great therapy pets

Kitty Lenny is a hit with the residents at the nursing home, including my Mom.

While we often think of dogs when it comes to therapy pets, bringing smiles to the faces of those they visit in nursing homes and hospitals, cats can be great therapy pets, as well.

Bringing kitty to the nursing home

Paws can attest to this, as we would bring Lenny into the nursing home to visit our human Mom, who was dealing with the ravages of Alzheimer’s Disease. While our Mom certainly loved to see Lenny and pet his unbelievably soft fur, others enjoyed seeing him as well.

We would bring this grey and white striped tabby into the nursing home in his carrier, and walk around to some of the common areas to visit other residents. It was amazing to see how the kitty would make them more responsive. I used to have a kitty. Can I pet the kitty?

Paws was careful that Lenny did not get spooked, and we kept a tight reign on him when he was gently taken out of the carrier. After all, he was not used to seeing all these walkers and wheelchairs, and this was a bit new to him. He did amazingly well.

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