BLIZZARD!!!!!!1!!1!!!!!

Have you guys heard? There's an enormous blizzard coming up in the Chicagoland area. Everywhere you go, you hear blizzard, blizzard! BLIZZARD!!! Blizzard is a funny word so I like typing it out. I also like hearing it said. There really aren't enough words that have z's in them, are there?

I have lots and lots of things to tell you guys about, like the Valentine's Day wine tasting that I have nothing to wear to, and the Gammon Award that Friends of DCACC is up for and an update on Adin and the Rachel Ray thing and so many other things. But I'm not going to write about those things today. Nope, I'm going to give you something to do while the blizzzzard is destroying your normal routine.

I'm going to tell you about my favorite song. It's called 100 Ways to Love A Cat and it's 35 minutes long. There seriously are 100 ways and pretty much everyone of them is good. Here is my favorite, so you can get a taste. By the way, where can I get one of those super fly ties?:

Awesome, right? Here is the full version. You're going to love it:

I've actually been waiting for the perfect opportunity to share this song with you. So, really when you think about it, the coming blizzard is a good thing, since you will all have around 35 minutes to listen to the whole song.

I'm going to put a disclaimer on this, though. THIS song is pure and wonderful. Not all versions of the song are. Stick with this one. This is the one I want to use as background music at all our events. I also haven't watched any of the other videos by the guy who sings it. So, take that for what it's worth.

I do like this song, though.

Jake's Gotcha Day

OK, so I'm going to hit you guys over the head with Gotcha Day posts, because I think it's so important to celebrate your animals on their Gotcha Day.

January 22, 2009 was a great day for Gotcha's, which is why I'm taking about them this week. Not only was that Diago's Gotcha day, but it was also Bud's Gotcha Day.

This was Bud's official adoption picture (back when this picture was taken, Bud was known as Jake):

And this is Bud yesterday when he and his person visited the shelter to bring us some yummy chocolates (chocolate...because Bud is a Chocolate lab)

He was a happy boy when he was here and you can see that he is a happy boy now. His person says that he's the best dog ever. It might just be true.

I love hearing about Gotcha Days. On April 17th, I'll tell you about mine.

Celebrating Gotcha Days

Do you guys know what a Gotcha Day is? It's the day a family brings home a shelter animal. Every year thereafter, the family can celebrate the day that they brought their pet home. This is especially important for shelter animals because a lot of shelter animals don't know when their birthday is.

One of my good buddies just celebrated his Gotcha Day. While he was here, his name was Santiago, but now his name is Diago. Do NOT under any circumstances spell his name Diego. His person will correct you within .032 seconds. Believe me, I know. His name is spelled D I A G O, Diago.

This is my boy Diago the day he was adopted way back on January 22, 2008.

Isn't he a handsome boy? He's a cow kitty, like me. Every time I looked at Diego while he was here, I cracked up. See that knowing smirk Diago has? He wears that ALL the time.

In the two years since Diago's gotcha day he has made himself extremely comfortable in his new home. He is a huge couch potato. Look at this:

Unlike me, Diago is a big Bears fan. He always lays on his special Bears blanket to watch the big game:

Diago does occasionally get up off the couch and do things. In fact, occasionally his person brings him in to visit me. I'm the tiny petite cat in this picture and Diago is the tiny little cat. We're both bruisers is what I'm saying.

Diago's Gotcha Day was last Saturday and his owner took him to Natural Pet Market and let him pick out whatever he wanted. I hope he picked out the Salmon flavored Science Diet. If I remember right, that's his favorite.

If you have adopted a dog, cat, rabbit, lizard, pig or something else from a shelter, I hope you make it a point to celebrate their Gotcha Day every year to make them feel special. It will also give you the opportunity to celebrate the great friend you adopted.

Bos and Annie on the Move

So, you're probably wondering how Boley and Annie are doing. They're doing ok. They are still here bidding thier time until the perfect family comes along for them. You remember Bosley and Annie, right? They are the bonded pair of dogs who arrived at the shelter after their owner became ill.

Last week, we had an off site adoption event at the Petco at Danada in Wheaton. Bosley and Annie got to go and they had fun!

They got to go in the DCACC Adopt-a-Van and they liked that:

Then they spent the whole afternoon walking around Petco, shopping. Here is Bosley and his escort for the day:

And here is Annie:

Of course, the Bears were playing the day of the Petco adoption day, so there really wasn't anybody there to meet Bosley and Annie. The good news is that they had a nice day out.

At the end of the day, they were totally ready to get in their crates in the van and return to the shelter.

Someday the right family will come and Bosley and Annie will get to go home for real. In the meantime, we'll just take them to every off site event we have.



I Have A Confession

OK, so I try to stay pretty neutral and try not to take any controversial stances (at least on the blog...around the office, watch out). But I just can't keep silent about this any longer.

I am not a Bears fan.

Bears are scary. They are big and I don't know if they would eat me, but I wouldn't want to find out. The only thing I like about Bears is they eat salmon and I love me some salmon.

That's not to say that I am a Packer fan either. I spent a good part of yesterday looking all the way through the Brookfield Zoo website trying to find out what a Packer is. They don't have any Packers at Brookfield Zoo. My zoo of record is Brookfield Zoo, so if an animal is not at Brookfield, then it's not an animal. And that's why I don't like the Packers.


But Scratch Cat, you're saying, I can't believe you are telling us this. Don't you know where you live? Why would you alienate your audience like that? Well, I will tell you why. I tell you that I like neither the Bears nor the Packers fan because I want to be honest with you.

It's not that I don't follow football. I am a man cat after all. In fact, I follow four teams.

I follow the Lions.

And the Panthers.

And the Jaguars.

And my favorites are the Bengals.

But alas, we're stuck with the Bears and Packers...and to a lesser extent the Steelers and the Jets.

Actually, you know what, if I were pressed to the wall and forced to make a decision, I guess I would root for the Bears. Because they are the only ones you can find at Brookfield Zoo.

Long, John and Silver, The Pirates of the Petco

Today, I be goin' t' tell ye about three ordinary kittens that be havin' a pretty ordinary story, but they be havin' cool names. The'r names be Long, Sil'er an' John. Mostly tho, we think o' them as Long John Silver.

I be nay sure how they got them names. They weren`t found on a swashbuckler ship. Nope! They be found in th' Miejer parkin' lot in Carol Stream. There wasn`t e'en a delisious Long John Sil'er restaurant anywhere near 'ere they be found.

John, Silver, an' Long be brought in by a very good guy named Mark. He saw these wee wee cats an' thought "That be nay starboard! Wee kittens ortin't be in a big box store parkin' lot. I be goin' t' get them somewhere safe!" So he brought them t' us.

We looked them o'er up an' down an' spake them kittens be perfect! We ortin' ta put them up fer adoption. So we did. They be now at one o' our remote locations, Petco in Danada Square (Wheaton).

Here be Long, John an' Silver`s official adoption pictures.



If ye be interested in adoption anywhere between one an' three buccanneer kitties, these be th' baby cats fer ye.

The Best Part of the Rachel Ray Show

So, later this morning (or earlier this morning, or yesterday morning...depending on when you're reading this), the segment on the Rachel Ray show that featured Woofin and Hoofin (and included us) aired. That Adin is a truly amazing guy. Are all human teenagers like him? If they aren't they totally should be. He goes to Yale now, which I understand is a good school?

It was pretty exciting when they were filming for the TV show segment. Adin and a crew of about three people showed up and Kristie L. showed them around the shelter. The pictures I took while they were here were so boring I fell asleep while looking at them. So, suffice it to say, the Rachel Ray show was here and it was neat to see Adin in action again. We don't get to see him that much now that he is away at school.

If you missed the show this morning, you can click on these words for a link to the video. Our own Buster was in the video and I'm happy to report Buster was adopted on Saturday. But he wasn't the only guy who got adopted on Saturday. Oh, no, he was not.

While she was here at the shelter filming Adin, the producer for the segment saw two baby dogs. These are the baby dogs she met while she was here. Their names while at the shelter were Alfalfa and Sprout. I'll be darned if I can tell them apart, though.

It just so happens that the producer of the show had been thinking about adopting a puppy for a while. After filming here, she went home to tell her husband and he thought about it. He liked the idea so they came in to meet the puppies, who they absolutely loved. The puppies were just old enough for their man dog surgeries, so they had those this week.

On Saturday, I was happy to see the producer and her husband again, because I knew that Alfalfa and Sprout were going to have their "Gotcha Day." On Saturday, though, the producer and her husband didn't just come by themselves. No, they brought their two human puppies with them. Here are the newly renamed Finn and Scout with their new humans, Abigail and Ethan:

Finn and Scout and Ethan and Abigail are extremely lucky that they will be growing up together. It's just another good thing that Adin has done...indirectly introducing the puppies to their new family.



Oh My Gosh You Guys

Two huge pieces of information have just come my way. At first I was all like "Yeah, it's Saturday. Why are people giving me important messages on Saturday?" And then I thought "I HAVE TO TELL MY INTERNET PEEPS!!!1!!!"

The first thing is...Remember when I said a day time talk show would be visiting the shelter? Well, they totally did and I have some (surprisingly boring) pictures I can share with you. But that's not the news. The news is that that show was the Rachel Ray Show. The bigger news is that our segment will be shown on Monday, January 17, 2010. I know! That's like the day after tomorrow. If you are in Chicagoland, it will air at 10:00 Monday morning on Channel 9. If you are in a different area of the country, you can click on these words to find out your showtime. If you are in Australia or Germany or Brazil, I don't know what to tell you.

The second piece of huge news is that today is today is the Cheezburger Network's Dress Up Your Pet Day! Why was I not personally informed of this? I am incensed. I'm too busy to dress up. I really should have been given at least six weeks to prepare. I'll just give you this:

SoaS goes to California

Remember last week when I thought Amanda was going to take me to California? and then later last week when I thought a daytime talk show would take me to California? And neither of those things happened so I moped around here with Bos and Annie? Of course you remember those things. You hang on my every word, right?

Well, my moping has been interrupted occasionally by Amanda's pictures of Scratch on a Stick (or SoaS, as I like to think of him (me?). It looks like SoaS had a great time. He went to a big giant bathtub:

SoaS is like me, though, and is kind of freaked out by water. So, SoaS asked to be moved away from the water. I guess that's what happened because that's what would happen if I were really there for real.

Look at that litter box! That's like so huge! I'm not sure if SoaS has a digestive system. If he does, I totally hope he made use of the facilities there. I can't wait to ask Amanda how awesome it was to scoop out a litter box that size. Can you imagine how great that must have been for her?

OK, now this I don't understand. There's like a litter box there that transitions into a big huge bathtub? And then guys with gigantic tongue depressors walk around? I really don't get what's going on in this picture. It looks like whatever is happening is cool, because SoaS looks like he's having a blast.

Apparently, he got roped into doing whatever the humans were doing, based on this picture. All I can say is I hope SoaS didn't ride that tongue depressor from the litter box into the bathtub because that would be weird. I'll have to ask Amanda what exactly she did with SoaS because none of this makes any sense to me.

You know what? For all my talk of wanting to go to California, I think I'll stay in Illinois. At least I understand the things that happen here. California seems very odd, now that I've seen the pictures.

Take Two, They're (Not Really) Small

Do you guys compulsively check the DCACC website to see who is up for adoption? No? Well, you totally should and here's why:

There are lots of dogs and cats and rabbits and sometimes rodents (I know, right?) that are available for you to adopt if you meet our adoption criteria.

You should also check our adoptables website constantly because the adoptable animals are always changing. Take Sunny, for instance. This is Sunny.

Sunny is a 9 month old golden doodle who was accepted into the adoption program on Thursday. Her picture went up on the website on Friday and she was adopted on Saturday. Her picture will probably be archived by the end of the week. See what I'm saying? If you don't constantly check the website, you'll miss things.

I have a suspicion that there are two dogs currently on the website who will stay on the website for a while. They are Bosley and Annie. This is them:

Look at those faces! Bosley and Annie are both four years old. I don't think they were litter mates, but they have been together almost all their lives. Recently, their owner got sick and found that he could no longer care for these guys, so they ended up at DCACC.

They are both healthy and friendly, so they are up for adoption. Thanks to Friends of DuPage County Animal Care and Control, Bosley and Annie are up for adoption together. They are housed together in a suite of kennels and they will be adopted out together. Friends of DCACC subsidizes the adoption fee for one half of a bonded dog adoption. That means when someone adopts Bosley Annie's adoption fee will be waived. Or, when Annie is adopted, Bosley's adoption fee will be waived. So, they're a twofer.

Actually, I'm looking forward to getting to know Bosley and Annie. They seem really nice, and I'm thinking they will get plenty of office socialization time until the perfect adopters come through our doors. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wednesday, not Tuesday, on Monday

Remember the beer tasting back in October? I went and I was a total hit. Until they brought out a baby cat. Remember?

Well, that baby cat was named Wednesday (not to be confused with Tuesday who was another kitten I was writing about for a while). And that baby cat Wednesday was just adopted the other day. They grow up so fast.

This was Wednesday at the beer tasting. You can hardly see her, she was so teeny tiny:

 This was Wednesday and her new human the day she was adopted:

HUGE, I tell you. How do baby cats grow so darn fast. Look at this other picture of little Wednesday. She's an almost grown lady cat and she's only three months old:

Our own Kristie L. was her foster mom and Kristie said that Wednesday was a heartbreaker. She had such a hard time putting Wednesday up for adoption, but is so happy Wednesday got such a great person, who promised to send lots of pictures.

I'll Go One Way Or the Other

Yesterday, I was lounging in the comfy bed that was donated over the holidays.

I was thinking about whether or not it would be hard to legally change my name to Macy to better match the bed. Macy is a man cat name, right? The bed is SOOOO comfortable I stayed in it almost all day.

But then, yesterday afternoon, we got a call from a day time talk show and they are coming tomorrow to film a segment on our DuPage County Animal Care and Control shelter and the partnership we have with a high school group called Woofin' and Hoofin'.

Well, I thought...I'm going to get to California after all. So, I reluctantly got up out of the Macy bed and started packing.

I got a selection of hats and blankies and other stuff and put it in a fancy carrier. I found a California or Bust! sign so anyone famous will know my plans. All I have to do is figure out how I'm going to fit into the carrier with all my stuff.

Carolyn K (Lou's foster mom) told me that the show is not even going to know I'm alive when they're here. But I don't care. I'm going to California to see my Amanda and this TV show is going to get me there.

Scratch On A Stick

So, remember how spending more time with Amanda R. was my New Year's Resolution? Well, come to find out she's leaving me.

And she's not just leaving me in the evening, like she usually does. No, she's leaving me for a longer time than that. I'm not sure how I'm going to survive. This is how I'm feeling. It's my not happy face:

Amanda's leaving me for an entire week, just so she can go on vacation to California.

Of course, when I first heard about the vacation, I naturally assumed that I would be going. I immediately went to my wardrobe box and got my vacation outfit on:

Look how happy I was. I mean what better way for Amanda and I to work on my New Year's Resolution than a week long get away together in California. Sure, I might have to go in a carrier, but think about how much fun it wold have been for Amanda to feed me and talk to me and clean my litter box in a different setting. I was amazed that she took my resolution so seriously, so quickly.

And then...then they told me. I wasn't going to be going. Amanda's going to California with her husband, Bear. Let me just mention that Amanda is not married to a Bear. She's married to a human named Bear. He doesn't look like a Bear to me, though. He looks more like a Dan.

But enough about Bear, who is going to California instead of me. I'm so not happy that the this is happening. Amanda told me Laurie would feed me and Anne would pay attention to me and the kennel staff will take care of my litter box, but it didn't cheer me up. I'm only going to have 51 weeks now to spend time with her this year instead of my planned 52 weeks. How is that fair to me?

Then Kristie L. (you remember Kristie, right?) came up with a brilliant idea. She reminded me that Scratch on a Stick could go instead. "Scratch on a Stick!" you probably just exclaimed. "That doesn't sound comfortable at all." Kristie says it's like Flat Stanley. But it sounds like what George Clooney did for his sister's wedding in Up the the Air to me. You've seen that movie, right?  I love that movie. Don't ask me how I saw it, just understand that I did, ok. Anyway, you remember the life sized cut out George Clooney had to carry around of his sister? Scratch on a Stick is similar.

In fact, we've done this before. This is Scratch on a Stick at Amanda's wedding last year. I hope Amanda didn't have an open bar, because this gang would have made that EXTREMELY expensive:

I asked if Scratch on a Stick can be like two foot by three foot this time, so I won't get suffocated in Amanda's luggage. And so it can be more like Up in The Air. Kristie reminded me that a) I'm not really going for real and b) the laminator only works on things smaller than a sheet of paper. I hope Scratch on a Stick doesn't get suffocated, then.

Hopefully, Amanda will send me pictures every day. If she does, I'm totally going to show them to you guys.

Resolution Time

Oh, hey! How the heck have you guys been? It's been nearly a week since my last post. Sorry about that.

There was a little girl in here today adopting a cat. She was maybe seven or eight. The little girl wasn't alone, so don't get worried. Her mom and older brother were here as well. The little girl was really excited to take her cat home. I think they adopted Briar Rose, or maybe it was Flurry. Anyway, they were a good family. They came in and met their new cat on Saturday, then thought about it and came in today to complete the adoption. Amanda R. was helping them complete the paper work. Amanda was going through her check list and said to the little girl "Are you ready for you new cat?" The Little girl said "Yes." (They always say yes, Amanda usually doesn't believe the little humans.) So, Amanda clarified with the little girl and said, in kind of a knowing way "Did you even pick up your toys?" The little girl said "No, I didn't! I've been busy these last three weeks!"

From my perch of the copy machine, I thought "You sing it, little human sister! It has been a busy three weeks!" I've had you going to Cantigny and going to the pictures with Santa and the other pictures with Santa. And that's not even including all the things you had to do for yourselves and your families for the festivities. I hope you've had some time to relax and reflect now that the holidays are pretty much over with.

I've been reflecting lately on what my New Year's Resolution was going to be. Last year it was to wear more hats, whenever the mood struck me. You might have noticed that I stuck to that one pretty well. But this year, it's been trickier.

I was going to have my New Years resolution be to have more Facebook friends than Lou does. See that button right over there. It says "Facebook Scratch Cat." If you hit that, you can request to be my Facebook friend. I promise if you become my Facebook friend, I won't ask you to help me build anything or take care of anything. I do, however, generally post on my Facebook wall when I have a new blog post, so that's a value added right there.

You will be shocked to know that as of this writing, Lou has 92 Facebook friends and I have 76 Facebook Friends. I know! I'm outraged, too! I think he has lots of friends that he got from the Kanthack family, who he lives with. They have a high schooler and a colleger (is that how you say that?) The more I thought about it, though, that shouldn't be my New Year's Resolution, that should be your New Year's Resolution. Won't you be so cool and in the know if you were my friend? All your friend would say "Hey, who's this Scratch Cat fellow my friend from grade school/high school/a job you had for a week in 1978/etc. has befriended on Facebook? I'd like to be friends with him to as well!" And voila! Scratch Cat has more friends than Lou Kanthack.

Plus, I don't want to pile on Little Lord Lou right now. Remember that poll I had last week? The one about who wore the reindeer hat better, me or Lou? Yeah. I won that. 19 to 6. So, um, yeah. Enough said.

I can not believe I've written 591 words without a picture! Are you guys still with me? Well here's my New Years Resolution...

...Uh oh! I can't find the picture on the hard drive that I had somebody take today. It's probably still on the camera card and the camera cord is in a covered cabinet that I can't open because I'm a cat. I know humans never trap pictures on their camera cards, but sometimes cats do. Check back after the weekend...I'll have somebody hook the camera up to the computer. It's a good picture.

So, I'll just have to say it:

My New Year's Resolution is to spend more time with Amanda R.

Amanda R. is really the one who takes care of me. I love Laurie, but that's only because I've known Laurie for a long time. Amanda R. is the one who feeds me and cleans my litter box and defends me and plays with me and whispers wonderful things to me. And then what do I do? I post pictures of me and Laurie.

Today, I really listened to Amanda as she dealt with the people who were coming in to adopt (or to surrender), and I was reminded just how fun (and tough) Amanda's job is. Of course, it's the same job that Anne P. and Carolyn K. and Laurie do. They all have tough and busy and at time heart wrenching jobs. And they always have to be polite and nice and level headed to whomever comes in. Sometimes it's easy. And sometimes, it's not.

So, why is my New Year's Resolution to spend more time with Amanda and not Anne or Laurie or Carolyn?

Because Amanda R. is the one who picks up my poop.