Huddled around the fireplace

Brr, is it ever cold! The heater keeps clicking on and I can feel the chill in the air. Last night we all huddled around the fireplace trying to keep warm and watching the outdoor thermometer drop down to 30 degrees. It was an exceptionally good night to snuggle!

While we were huddled together, I noticed Scruffy got lost in his thoughts by the Christmas tree. He seemed to be remembering the hard times when he struggled to survive out in these miserably cold temperatures.

We're glad you're with us now, Scruffers! Just stop hissing at me, ok? I just want to play!

Where's the Virginia?

After eight days of Heather's mother visiting us, we all assumed she was here to stay for good. Well, heck, if you've seen her unpack her car and fill up the guest room, you would think she had moved in for good!

Scruffy will have one less lap to sleep on. And I will have one less human to avoid when I'm not feeling snuggly (which is most of the day, according to some.)

I know what will happen: Heather will scrub the house and get it back in order just in time for Virginia to come back and visit for Christmas! We're counting down the days!

Don't forget, Virginia - we love catnip presents!

(Photo: Giuseppe Gattino showing his incredible desire to be snuggled by Virginia.)

Feeling thankful for all I have

This is the perfect week to begin a season of feeling thankful for what we have. As an indoor kitty, I have been sheltered and naive to what could happen to me if I were living on the streets.

In the seven months that Scruffers has lived with us, he has taught me a lot about how other animals have to survive fending for themselves. So here's what I'm thankful for:

• My humans - Craig and Heather
• This warm house with many good snuggle spots (and views of the swans and geese)
• My bowl, which is replenished with tasty food twice a day (sometimes requires a lot of meowing to get it filled)
• My kitty brother Scruffy Gray
• My snuggle bed
• My dingle ball
• Belly rubs
• Catnip
• Tasty tuna treats

(Photo: Scruffy Gray enjoys a moment of catnip-induced euphoria in his new home.)

It's the weekend before Thanksgiving and you know what that means, don't you? It's a weekend of Heather cleaning the house for her parents' arrival.

Plus, between now and Thanksgiving the house is going to continuously smell like chicken and turkey! Maybe I can convince Heather to buy some salmon to cook up too...

I can't wait to help Heather out!
My favorite duties:

• Helping make the bed
• Supervising the cleaning of the kitty boxes
• Sniffing the chicken to make sure it's ready to go into the homemade chicken stew (you'd better let me try a sliver!)
• Glaring at the vacuum cleaner when it interrupts my nap
• Making sure the house is bug-free (I like to catch and eat them all!)

Time to get to work! I'd better start by checking on that chicken that's making the house smell so good!

Notes from the snuggle bed

The day started out sunny. I stared out the window in the morning to watch the snow geese play in the lake by my house and enjoyed the quiet. Hmm, quiet? - that means the main road's been closed!

Yup, November brings plenty of rain, which translates as flooding opportunity. The snow geese love the rain because it offers them more ponds to play in when the fields flood. And we love it because the road closes by our house and the traffic noise is lowered significantly. And it gives Heather and Craig a quiet road to run on to check out the snow geese. It's a "win win" situation as you humans would say.

Well, even though the road closed, the noise level has increased because we're in the midst of another wind storm. Time for me to crawl into my snuggle bed and listen to the wind howl while I enjoy a little cat nap. It's another good day to be an indoor kitty!

Must be November

That's right, November is here! It came on quite suddenly, with the usual incredibly loud wind storms and the never-ending northwest rain pelting the windows. Of course, none of that matters to me 'cause I live indoors.

But my favorite part about November is when the snow geese start coming back. I can hear them flying over the house in the morning to head to the wetland mitigation lake below. And then they fly overhead again at dinner time. They're starting to gather here in large numbers and will soon be very vocal. It's music to my kitty ears!

I love to stare at the snow geese and listen to them fly over the house, but when I see how big they are I am thankful I'm an indoor kitty. Right Scruffers?

Ok, gotta run. Snuggle season has begun and I have to claim my spot on the sofa.

King County waives adoption fees for shelter animals

King County is waiving fees on all pets in its shelters and in foster care, officials have announced.

Dogs, puppies and kittens previously cost $75 to adopt, and adult cats were $35, according to the county. While there still will be a charge for a pet license, the change is part of an effort to find pets safe homes as flood season begins.

When the county adopts out animals, vaccinations, including rabies, are included. A list of adoptable pets is at www.kingcounty.gov/pets.

County Executive Kurt Triplett announced in late September his intent to move pets out of the county's Kent shelter by Nov. 1 because the building could be flooded this winter due to damage to the Howard Hanson Dam.

At that time, Triplett also said King County would stop providing shelter and animal-control services to cities by the middle of next year as part of an effort to close a budget gap.

While the county has identified a few sites for a temporary shelter, it hasn't closed a deal yet, Christine Lange, a county spokeswoman, said last week.

"We're very close to having plans finalized, and the animals will be out of the shelter well in advance of a flood event," Lange said.

The county's Kent shelter on Oct. 19 stopped accepting pets given up by owners, she said. Last week, the shelter had 310 animals, county records show. There were 523 more animals, mostly cats, in foster care.

Is it your turn to rescue a kitty? I hope so.

(Photo courtesy of www.petfinder.com)

Cat gets H1N1: Furry housemates may have flu risk, too

Oh no! What if I wake up and look like this? Please don't let me get the swine flu!

By The Washington Post and The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Does the swine-flu pandemic pose a threat to your pet? Yes, according to a new report from the American Veterinary Medical Association.

A cat in Iowa tested positive for the H1N1 virus, state officials confirmed Wednesday, "marking the first time a cat has been diagnosed with this strain of influenza," the association said.

The 13-year-old domestic short-haired kitty was treated last week at Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ames and recovered, officials said. The virus also has been confirmed in two ferrets — one in Oregon and the other in Nebraska — but they died.

"We've known certainly it's possible this could happen," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spokesman Tom Skinner. "This may be the first instance where we have documentation that transmission occurred involving cats or dogs."

The veterinarian who treated the cat, Dr. Brett Sponseller, said two of the three people in the cat's Iowa home had flu-like symptoms before the cat became ill. The case was confirmed at Iowa State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Other influenza strains have been known to cross species, but Sponseller cautioned against drawing too many conclusions from the cat, including whether other pets also could get the swine flu: "It's well documented in influenza in general, but this is the first highly suspected case of H1N1 going from humans into a cat."

The indoor cat was lethargic, had a loss of appetite and appeared to have trouble breathing after it became infected, Sponseller said. Its owners declined to comment.

Officials said pet owners should take the same precautions against spreading swine flu to pets as they would with humans.

Getting children vaccinated for swine flu also can help prevent the illness from spreading to pets. There is no swine-flu vaccine for pets.

Dr. Ann Garvey, Iowa's state health veterinarian, said it is not known how sick pets could get from swine flu. "Because we haven't seen that many cases, it's difficult to give a blanket assessment on how sick it can make an animal," she said.

Officials also stressed there is no evidence swine flu can be passed from pets to people. "But it's so early in the game we don't know how it's going to behave," said Michael San Filippo, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Oh, Scruffy - trick or treat!

What's that noise? I swear I just heard Heather walk upstairs with a clean kitty box. I'd better go check it out.

Yup, there's fresh kitty litter in my freshly scrubbed box. But, here's my favorite part - I beat Scruffers to the inspection of his box. And his box has been scrubbed clean too.

I look around to see if he's coming. Nope. I quickly jump into his box and lie down. I love to rub my scent in all over his box so he can't get away from me! Might as well tinkle a little too so he really knows I was here. He he he!

(Photo: Giuseppe Gattino looking around for a sign of Scruffers.)

Who wants to start with some worms?

Halloween was so much fun! I thought it was ging to be an annoying evening but after being cranky all week, Heather adjusted her attitude and we had a blast!

First I helped her decorate the outside of the house. We added fake spiderwebs sporting fake spiders and old campaign signs redecorated with messages such as "danger ahead!" and "beware!" leading up to the house.

Then the fun began! Heather made (and I supervised) a dinner plate to scare off the children. It sported worms (ramen noodles soaked in soy sauce), bugs (cooked white beans) and hearts of bad children (chicken hearts). And then I helped her as she changed into her super-scary Halloween costume. She painted her nails black and ringed her eyes with this hideous neon green eyeshadow. Next she put on black pants and a black shirt and then covered them with a long black dress that looks like one of those coats Iranian women have to wear in public. Heather then put this awful looking red mask over her head and tucked it into the Iranian coat. Scruffy took one look at her and hid behind the couch!

OK, talking about Scruffers, notice that he thought that worms, bugs and the hearts of bad children would make a tasty meal. He attempted to eat it a few times! Scruffers - wouldn't you rather have that nice soft kitty food Heather feeds us?

The doorbell rang and Heather got to test out her costume. She opened the door and - the first child cried. And the second. And the third one ran away and had to be brough back by his brother. Heather ended up taking off her mask for all the smaller children and only offered the optional worm meal to the older kids. My favorite was when she asked the 11-year old girls (all dressed up as sexy cheerleaders, yuck!) if they wanted to try some worms. They actually screamed! Scruffers and I were on the ground rolling with laughter! Only one kid wanted to taste a chicken heart but Heather had to take the plate away and explain that they were raw. Come on kid, chocolates or a chicken heart. It shouldn't be a difficult decision!