Caturday Cards - The Budding Business and New Cards

Mrrraow, everyone! Fluffy here!

While we wait for Heather to receive a job confirmation call from the nursery school (her place of work), we have been investing all our time and energy into producing, printing and promoting our greeting cards here in Turin.

Our local printer has promised to have 1500 of our cards printed and packaged for us by this afternoon (!!), and our friend H, who runs the local "cartolibreria" (book and stationary shop in Italian) Bianconiglio, has agreed to put our cards up on a sale or return basis. 

It'll be such an emotional experience seeing our cards up on a card rack for the first time! 

What's more, we've also started to make bookmarks out of our Monday Moggy Mewsings comic! We are thinking we might take them to a few bookstores, both new and second-hand, pet stores, and stationary stores. Do you like how they turned out?

This week, I have two new cards to share with you, both which have an anniversary theme!

This is my cat mummy and daddy, celebrating 25 years of love and happiness together (with the occasional cat fight!) By the way, those are 25 cat years and not 25 human years!

And here I am, dancing the swing with my bootiful cat girl Molly! I asked Heather why the whiskers she included a nosy little mouse in our romantic card. She didn't have a good answer for me. Mew!

These two cards can be adjusted to fit the number of years the happy couple has been together. And of course, from every sale, we give 10% to Cat's Protection!

We hope you've enjoyed our new selection of cards. Have a relaxing weekend, everyone, and see you on Moggy Mewsings Monday!

Cat News Friday - Hydrotherapy for Healing

Hydrotherapy is a healing method that has been used in the rehabilitation of injured dogs and humans for many years. It involves the rebuilding of weak and damaged muscle tissue in an animal, and the improvement of its overall fitness.

Cats, often considered aquaphobic, tend not to be prime targets for hydrotherapy.

That is, until Sue Wilson's little black cat Tootsie came along. 

Though you would hardly notice today, Tootsie had been victim to a hit and run. Her entire right leg had been shattered, in addition to a number of other serious injuries. Both Sue and the veterinarians she had gone to see believed that putting Tootsie down was the only humane option. 

However, Tootsie's fate had not quite been sealed. 

Vets decided that it would be worth trying hydrotherapy in a two-foot deep dog pool, as a last resort. And thank goodness they did. 

Tootsie took to the water immediately, starting out with 90 second paddles with the aid of a harness, to full 20 minute swims without any sort of aid. At the end of the month, Tootsie was back to her old self, running around in the yard and playing as if the accident was only a figment of distant memory. 

It just goes to show that not every cat is terrified of water, and not ever animal is doomed to 'quietus' after a life threatening injury. Sometimes, you just have to believe that something is possible for it to come true.

Do you have a story of a cat who overcame seemingly impossible hurdles on the road back to health? If so, please share it with us! 

All images and information courtesy of:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk.

Wordless Wednesday - "Gatto" of the Cinque Terre in Italy

Just a taster from Heather's upcoming post about her three day adventure on the breathtaking west coast of Italy (and the cats she meets there)!

Tuesday with Taddeo - The Mystery Smell

*turns on secret walky-meowy planted inside the Mamma F's flower pot*

Buonasera. This is Agent Taddeo, reporting to you from Turin, Italy. I am on a mission to discover the origin of that incredible food smell that is wafting around our balcony. It seems to be emanating from Heather and Fluffy's kitchen. Shall we investigate?

Generally, I am not a fan of breaking and entering, but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

That's right Ginger. You keep an eye out and tell me if anybody's coming!

Just a quick twist here...and a flick of the paw there...and...

...done! We're in, Ginger! Jiminy Cricket, the smell is getting stronger!

Taddeo: Gi...Ginger. It's...BEAUTIFUL!

Ginger: WHAT? What is it?!

Salmon burgers!

Update from Fluffy:

Mamma F quickly shuffled the two adorable agents out of the door before they could get their paws on our dinner. Since when did Taddeo learn to jemmy the lock on our door, anyway? This could get dangerous, especially if my supper is involved! 

Monday Moggy Mewsings - Broken Motor (No. 002)

Click to see a larger version!

Caturday Cards (on Sunday) - The Winner and New Cards

As you all know, yesterday Heather and I had a very special house call to make, and as such, Caturday Cards was bumped to today. 

It was probably for the best because just this morning, we received an email from Prancer of Prancer Pie, the winner of last week's Caturday Cards Contest. He and his mom T told us that they had received the card, and that they plan to frame it for the wall. They even included a picture of Prancer posing with the card! 

Adorable Prancer with his Christmas card

A big thanks to Prancer and the gang for sending on this photo. It lit up our day!

This week's set of cards tend to fall into the 'birthday' category, as we received a large request from a stationary shop nearby for birthday cards with ages written upon them.

I suppose when the mice start running for their little lives, it's due time for the cat to do the same. Especially if big, scary number is falling out of the sky!

Okay, so, I had my Polaroid camera with me, and I took a number of silly shots of myself, hoping that one of them would work for this card. Heather said all of them were cute, so we used the entire set!

Kind of embarrassing, but I think I might have been jamming to the Catstreet Boys in my car at the time!

This is Missy, the pretty and ultra fashionable cat lady you might have seen in our other cards, on her 21st birthday. She knows what it means to "shop 'till you drop"!

All cards can be found at My Friend Fluffy's Online Shop. (A portion from every sale goes to Cats Protection to help with the housing of abandoned cats.) 

Hope you enjoyed today's edition of Caturday Cards, and we look forward to reading your comments and criticisms! 

(In closing, we would also like to take a moment of silence to remember the tragic events of 10 years ago in New York City. I was only young when it happened, but the anguished faces of those affected by 9/11 are firmly engraved into my memory. I hope that the families of the deceased find some solace and peace on this day of mourning.)  

Caturday Visit with Giulietta

Our human neighbours, R and E, after more than a year without taking a single vacation, have decided to head down this week to Tuscany for a three day break from reality.

What a shock that must have been for sweet little Giulietta, to find her extremely lively house as empty as a cat's stomach just before breakfast!

Thankfully, Giulietta has a number of kind, caring, cat-loving neighbours who have promised to visit and keep her company during R and E's absence. This afternoon, it was our turn to visit this shy and bashful kitty, and attempt to make friends.

Ciao, sono Giulietta! 

We snuck into the house as quietly as we could, so as not to catch her by surprise. Since there was no sign of life in the house, save the dong of the old cuckoo clock, we glided silently over to the food bowl and shook is gently, announcing our arrival. 

A quick glance over the shoulder and we noticed that we were no longer alone. There was little Giulietta sitting intrigued by the living room door.

Who is you?

Thus began the game of "cat and mouse." Every time we tried to get close, bashful Giulietta would scamper away, always maintaining a good meter between her and the clicky box. 

Perhaps if I try to blend in with the decor...

If I go up high, maybe the camera can't follow me!

Nope, still there.

Aaaand on the other side of the flower pot too. Is there no escape?!

At long last, we convinced Giulietta that we were furiends and not foes. (The nibbly bits of food that we threw for her to chase probably helped substantially!) The rest of our time together was spent out on the balcony, enjoying the fresh autumn breeze and the quiet of the surrounding woods. She even let Heather pet and cuddle her for a while, which was a great step forward for the timid Giulietta! 

Modelling on the front balcony

This is one of my many comfortable beds!

Don't YOU wish you had a bed like this? (And a face as cute as mine?)

Come again soon, okays?

Hopefully, we can visit Giulietta again tomorrow, or at least once more before R and E return to Torino land.

Now, we know it's Caturday, and that we SHOULD be posting our Caturday Cards, but this story about Giulietta was just too special to pass up! As such, Caturday Cards is being shifted to Sunday for this week only. Stay tuned!