We haven’t been posting in cat years, but we have a good occasion to come say hi and come back on the blog scene.
Austin in Texas, where we all live now, is hosting the 2018 Pop Cats Convention and our human went today. She thought it was lots of fun and we all just wanted to give you a sneak peek to encourage you to check it out if you are in the Austin area. The convention will be here until tomorrow, end of the day
Several shelters, vets, and animal hospitals were there. Many kittens were looking for furever families too.
And of course, it was all about kitties and art!
The human discovered this magazine we have been trying to subscribe to for months – Pussweek. She bought the Ginger issue for Whiskey. But it’s a cat magazine! Hopefully she gets us a subscription.
For some reason, she didn’t get the paw reading, despite the fact that cats are definitely the best at reading the future.
She didn’t get us cat wine either…
…but she got us silver vine! We haven’t tried it yet. What do y’all think about silver vine?
She bought several presents for us, although I’m glad she didn’t get us a little Mexican hat…
…Whiskey got a bow tie! The human and I think he looks very elegant like that.
We’ll be featuring a few products soon. So I hope you will come back. It’s nice to be back!
My human, not content with spending those days away from me, has chosen to go to the new DC cat cafe for her birthday yesterday.
The good part though is that she could report to me on the cat cafe.
Overall, my human really liked the cafe. There are two floors and about 20 cats going about their business, letting clients pet them – or not. They are also all for adoption, so the cats in the cafe, hopefully for them, will change as they get adopted. You just have to book the time when you want to come online, and then come, have some coffee or tea and be a slave nice to those kitties.
The cafe seems to be successful as it was packed at 9 am on Saturday. She said the humans who worked there were very nice too and obviously love cats.
I think it’s a great idea to help cats and humans know each other better and to get some homeless kitties a home and a better chance for adoption as the humans can freely play with them.
If you think about it, these kitties have dozens of servants all the time. I wonder if one of them would be a better typist than my human…?
You can find more pictures on my human’s blog too, here (yes, because she had the nerve to keep some for her blog!).
What do you think about cat cafes? Have you visited one before?
Texas: What? You received the Litter One product back in June! Well, okay there was the move… Anyway…
Let’s proceed…
[You can click on any picture of this post to biggify]
Back when my human went to Blogpaws, a nice lady talked to her about an entirely biodegradable litter product that was just being launched and she asked my human whether she would like to try it. Indeed, the little leaflet said that not only was it an environment-friendly solution, but it took away the burden of cleaning the litter box from the humans, too. She was intrigued!
You see, as I mentioned before, an excuse my human often hears for not adopting a kitty is the litter box chore. My human doesn’t enjoy cleaning our litter boxes either but she thinks it is worth having us around! So she thought that if someone was to invent a solution that would make it easier for humans, maybe that could help!
My human received the Litter One Product for free to test back in June. But with all the boxes around at our old place, she thought it might not be a good “test” since we were already a little distressed worried by what was going on around.
Long story short: fast forward to September in our new home.
My human waited for us to be well at ease in our new home. She decided to install the Litter One in her office room, while leaving the other clay litter boxes we are used to in our usual bathroom.
Inspecting the product…
Kitshka is inspecting the box…
There was some assembly to do but with our help… well okay, with the help of the video on the Litter One website, it was easy, really!
Here is the video:
Here is me helping my human:
Complete litter kit
Litter is ready!
The human wants to say that it is really practical to use, for everything is included: the litter box, of course, the litter, a little scoop and poop bags.
The litter itself is made of pine pellets. It did look strange to us a little bit, although we had tried another such litter before.
Texas: Do you want to try it first, Kitshka? Kitshka: why, no Texas, this is your blog, so try it first!
Kitshka and I didn’t want to try it at first. It is said that you can put a layer of your kitty’s usual litter on top of the pine pellets, if the kitties don’t naturally go to the new litter. But my human wanted to wait before doing it and it only took a couple of days before… Milou would go pee in it! Of course, I couldn’t let Milou be the only one peeing in MY human’s office’s litter box!
Covering Milou’s you-know-what…
I can’t believe my human took a picture of me in the act…
Where’s my pee? The pellets stole my pee!
The pellets kind of disintegrate after a contact with a liquid and transform into some dust that goes through small holes in the false bottom of the litter box. So my human would only regularly shake the box a little to make sure the dust would find its way to the holes.
The transformation of the pellets…
Milou and I regularly peed in this litter box but my human never saw Kitshka go in it. She closes her office room during the night so there is a good chance that Kitshka never tried it.
Another interesting thing is that not one single kitty pooped in it (sorry for the details but this is a fact!). We only peed in it.
All in all we liked this litter and the human says she didn’t sniff any odor at all!
We only have one reservation though: it is said that the litter can last up to 4-6 weeks. My human was impressed by that statement but not easily convinced. And in fact, after a little less than two weeks:
Oopsie…
It is not surprising though because 1) Milou tends to pee in direction of the walls of any litter box (okay me too sometimes), 2) 2 weeks is already a lot in our humble opinion, when a usual litter needs to be cleaned everyday and changed every week at the very least! This one required low maintenance and lasted longer.
We think this is a nice product and my human also really appreciates the fact that it was both easy to set up and to throw away when it was time: she simply closed the box and put it in the recycle trash box! And of course, the fact that there was no odor was a definite plus!
I think the Litter One humans are on to something interesting and practical here!
Disclosure: One Litter One product was sent to us free of charge to try it. We were not asked to review it, but decided it was worth a review. We were not compensated for the review, or for my superb mancattitude posing on the product. Our opinions remain our own.
To finish, here are some “behind the scenes pics of us. Click on any picture to read our thoughts!
I need to perform the resistance test!
A reviewer needs to be purrfectly groomed
I think I need a break, it’s tiring to do reviews…
I wonder if the Litter One humans thought of the possibility of turning the box into a bed…
Just… a little… nap…
Zzzzz…
Didn’t the human say we’d have treats?
Oh! I found a pompom!…
Kitshka: Is that a treat? Texas: No, Kitshka, that’s a pellet.
Today, we are reviewing a pawsome book titled “The Life and Love of Cats” by Lewis Blackwell.
Human, please focus your camera on both me AND the book
Let’s take the picture on the couch
Can’t you focus on BOTH of us?
I say “we” because Kitshka and I really wanted to do the review ourselves…
…but we’ve agreed to let the human write it because although it is a book about us kitties, the author says it is a book for cat worshipers lovers. Here is a short presentation by the publisher:
Photographer Lewis Blackwell takes readers on the ultimate cat lover’s journey in The Life and Love of Cats, providing a unique perspective on one of our closest companions. Starting with the earliest records of domestic cats nine thousands years ago in Africa and the Mediterranean, Blackwell celebrates and explores the joy of cats in our lives, searching for the essence of our connection with them. Supporting the text is his presentation of a unique range of images shot by leading animal photographers from around the world.
So, without further ado… here is my human’s review.
Thank you, Texas.
I must start by saying that I am quite the cat lover, and anything with a cat on it gets my attention. When I first saw the cover of this book, as well as its title, I was intrigued.
The Life and Love of Cats. The title alone seems to sum up the intention of its author, Lewis Blackwell, and the goal of each of us cat lovers: witnessing and understanding the life of the feline companions we, cat lovers, cherish. Can we ever get an accurate understanding of our cats? That’s the leitmotiv of the book. The author asks the question as if putting a watermark on the pictures… and seems to have his doubts.
Don’t get him wrong: this is not that cats act beyond coherent. Mystery is part of their charm and why we love them so much. Unlike dogs, cats can hardly be trained or expected to act predictably. They seem to see things we don’t, they seem to be deep in thoughts… but are they even thinking, the author wonders? Aren’t we just projecting our way of operating and living on them? Maybe. Probably, in many ways. True, cat blogs and sites filled with cat memes are mixing human traits with human interpretations of feline behavior (I almost felt like writing cattitude, which would only confirm the author’s point). I see it more as a desire to understand them though, as well as to put them on a pedestal: they make our lives so much better, they deserve the glory… the worship?
The book is definitely a book for cat lovers. Blackwell takes us on a journey to discover what made this beautiful animal the emblem of mystery it has become: from being worshiped to being reviled. Humans may have a hard time understanding cats, but they are responsible for many of the attributes they are given today: from the legendary mystery to, sadly, the irrational (my choice of word) curses.
The book is divided into nine chapters, like the nine lives of cats: Evolution; Domestic; Wild; Sense; Breeds; Cute; Healing; Black; Eternal. The text is not all: 117 gorgeous photographs of cats of all sorts make it an art book that any cat lover will be proud to own. The pictures are beautiful. They are also punctuated, as is the text, with quotes and sayings about cats.
What seems to clearly transpire from reading this book is that its author admires cats and is yearning to understand them more than we can. Or is he? Part of the mystery cats will probably long keep makes a good part of their charm: half domestic, half wild, this is that “otherness” mentioned in the book that we admire.
To quote the author,
this is a book for people who love cats. Unashamedly, victoriously, and wonderfully so!
I think this quote sums up the book pretty well. I would bet that many cat lovers who will put their paws hands on this book will want to have it in their collection. This book is a beautiful gift for a cat lover. It is also a beautiful tribute to cats.
The Life and Love of Cats
By Lewis Blackwell
Abrams Books
ISBN: 1-4197-0404-4
Publishing Date: 10/1/2012
Trim Size: 12 x 12
Page Count: 216
Cover: Hardcover with jacket
Illustrations: 117 color photographs
Click here to go to the Publisher’s website. Click here to go to Amazon.
Thank you, human. And I would like to add that despite Mr. Blackwell saying that he has “yet to meet a cat who is interested in reading,” Kitshka and I enjoyed his book. Okay, maybe not in the human way of enjoying a book. But we enjoyed it anyway.
[click on any picture to biggify]
Has any of you seen/read this book? What were your thoughts about it?
We want to thank Abrams Books for sending us a review copy of “The Life and Love of Cats.” Receiving the copy did not influence our review.
We kitties do not need planners or calendars. But our humans do. Are your humans still looking for a 2013 calendar? Read on.
We were recently contacted by animal artist Bernadette Kazmarski, whose blog, The Creative Cat, I’m sure all of you know. If for some reason you don’t, I urge you to visit her website.
Bernadette is a multi-talented artist and an animal lover. My human and I enjoy the many ways she shares her passions on her website: from pictures of the members of her extended family of furry friends, to beautiful paintings, drawings, sketches of kitties (hers and others’), to beautifully written stories of rescued kitties, there is always something funny, moving, or inspiring (usually a combination of the three) to enjoy at her place on the Internet.
So we were thrilled and honored when she contacted us (really me, Texas) to ask if we would be interested in reviewing her 2013 calendars: In the Kitchen with Cookie & Compositions in Black and Green.
Compositions in Black and Green will be sure to meet your daily needs for mischievous kitty prowesses: playing in their human’s bathroom, offering their both cute and majestic mirror reflection to the artist’s camera. Each month offers wonderful and funny pictures of Bernadette’s five black cats in front of the white and green theme of the artist’s kitties’ bathroom.
Mimi, Mewsette, Jelly Bean, Mr. Sunshine and Giuseppe Basil Verdi will assuredly help you start each day of 2013 on the right paw. It will also help you see black cats in a whole new color.
In the Kitchen with Cookie will bring you an assistant chef in form of a calendar. When your name is Cookie, you make it a point to wear your colors (especially when they are tortoiseshell) proudly and that surely gives you a licence to spend more time than any kitty can dream of spending in the kitchen. This calendar is an adorably sweet (and savory) mix of beautiful pictures of Cookie and related (to Cookie’s postures) recipes from the artist. Evidently, Bernadette and Cookie formed a great team in the kitchen.
I tried to convince my human to try the cheesecake recipe (especially since Cookie seemed to require that kitties test the filling) but my human is on a diet too! She preciously kept the recipe though.
Both calendars allow for you to input important appointments and some notes. Yet they are small enough to fit in a hand bag if necessary. They both exist bound either on the top (as a wall calendar) or to the left (as a journal calendar). My human had a preference for the journal calendar, but it all depends how you expect to use it. Both versions of both calendars can be ordered here.
Bernadette has kindly offered to giveaway one copy of In the Kitchen with Cookie (wall calendar) and of Compositions in Black and Green (journal calendar). To win a copy, please leave a comment telling us which calendar you prefer and why. Don’t forget to leave your email so I can contact you if you win. You have until Saturday, Jan. 26, 9.00 pm EST. A random drawing will give us the two winners, that I will announce on Sunday.
***Receiving a copy of the calendars did not influence this kitty’s or his human’s opinion.***
