After my father killed himself in 1999 I figured nothing bad would happen for awhile, as if I deserved a “pass” from any more pain. Of course I was wrong. I got divorced four months later and lost my biggest client.

I realize that most things that happen during my life are not about me. My father took his own life. I didn't cause that to happen, but certainly it effected me deeply, and still does. The thing is I can't help but feel a bit, well pissed when one thing after another seems to go down the drain. I asked Sam if we were being foolish to think that things were going to get better “some day.” Maybe we should just realize that life pretty much sucks, is difficult, frustrating, heartbreaking and has moments, just moments of good stuff to keep us from offing ourselves, too.

Last month after Bob died, I thought that maybe we were done with long trips to Vet Oncologists, done with digging the deep financial hole to provide Bob with the care he needed, done with heartbreak over our cats. Bob was an old cat with FIV+, two kinds of cancer and half a liver. Our next youngest cat is eleven, so certainly they would be fine for many years to come. I really wanted to take a deep breath and relax, focus on the working out some behavioral issues with the cats and get the foster cats adopted.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Nicky, this morning, getting ready to roll over and show me his belly.

I nagged at Sam to take Nicky to the Vet. I was fed up watching the cat urinate on the floor, right in front of his litter pan, often not caring if we were watching him do it. We knew it might be due to the stress in the house and the cats jockeying for position in the cat hierarchy with Bob being gone, but due diligence dictated that Nicky should be seen by Dr. Larry.

I honestly thought Nicky had a urinary tract infection or might be in the early stages of hypothyroid because he drank a lot of water (and I knew his blood sugar was normal so it wasn't diabetes).

The blood work came back and it indicated that Nicky might be in early stages of renal (kidney) failure. The next morning, Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat just posted an article by Dr. Darren Hawks about Kidney Failure that helped me understand what was possibly going on. It was devastating news, but since we caught it early, Nicky had a chance to live many more good years. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all?

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. He always gives us "lovey-dovey" looks.

But Dr. Larry wanted to do a sonogram to look at Nicky's kidneys. Sam agreed and the procedure was done yesterday afternoon. I wasn't worried. I thought we had that pass to not get bad news-Nicky is just eleven, right? He gets a raw diet and fresh spring water not our yucky well water. Sure he had some kidney issue, but maybe he just needed some antibiotics?

I was sitting at my computer, working on a project. I'd had a lousy day. An acquaintance of mine died. He was only 52 years old. He had a massive stroke last week and died on Monday morning. I had some very interesting times with him and I liked him even though he seemed to bring out the worst in my childhood friend, MaryEllen, who was dating him in those days. Now she's planning his funeral. I couldn't help but feel the weight of the ticking clock of my own life. How much time did I have left? I'm only two years younger than he was and a lot of people don't even get to be my age. I can't take it for granted I have tomorrow. It gave me pause.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Rub Mah Belleh.

Sam stood in the doorway to my office. He didn't look so good, but we've both been in fairly bad moods for lots of reasons lately. He started to talk about Nicky. He must have just gotten off the phone with Dr. Larry. They found a growth on one of Nicky's kidneys-which were both showing signs of degeneration. They found lymph nodes that were enlarged, but it wasn't renal disease, it might be CANCER.

FU@KING CANCER.

Mesenteric Lymphoma. The same thing that JUST KILLED BOB.

When I heard “lymphoma” my head buzzed and my stomach flipped. I felt like I couldn't breathe for a second. No. No. NOT NICKY. NO!

They can't be certain until they do EXPLORATORY SURGERY. Maybe it's something else? Maybe it's some sort of reaction to something else? I don't know what else it COULD BE other than some sort of cancer!!!

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Nicky's view of the world is often upside down.

For the handful of you who've met Nicky, you know he's our BIG 20 pound boy who would rather lay in your arms, belly up, like a baby or get tummy rubs than do just about anything else at all. Nicky is a big sweetheart who LOVES everyone. He and his sister...and then I thought about Nora...are inseparable. She wouldn't survive without her big brother. Oh my GOD..what is happening to my cats?! We found this out just because Nicky was drinking too much water and peeing outside the litter pan. That was all we had for symptoms.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Skritches from mama.

I really thought we had more time. Now we have to scrounge for money. Nicky must have the surgery, but we are tapped out. We gave all that we had, and more, for Bob, thinking we could recover in time for the next cat health issue, but we were wrong.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. We love you, Nicky!

Later that night, after we picked up Nicky from the Vet and brought him home, I half jokingly said to Sam that I was feeling suicidal and asked him if he was, too, and he said, yes. Then he said, gesturing to the cats, but they would suffer if we died and I answered simply, we'll just take them with us when we go.

I guess we didn't get that pass we were hoping for. We'll do our best for Nicky. I don't know what that means. It's one step at a time. We need to confirm that it's lymphoma. We need to sort out what Nicky's options are and how we can provide for him. These are dark days indeed and this is just the beginning of a very sad journey for one of our beloved cats.

Okay. I have 20 cats in my house. That's a lot of cats. It doesn't seem that bad because over half of them are split into two separate rooms. At least I don't have to share my queen sized bed with all of them.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Ruby or Max, not sure which one, but this kitty is VERY SWEET, regardless of the name.

A few days ago I got a call from my BFF's at AID. Once in awhile something happens-a cat gets an upper respiratory and all HELL breaks loose. In a shelter, they'll euthanize sick animals to keep the others from getting sick, too. AID doesn't do this-EVER, but what do they do if they have a kitty with a runny nose and it spreads to other foster cats? We all only have so much room for foster cats, after all.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Beardy. Beardy? Is that a name? For reals?

I had the same thing happen to me almost two years ago when I rescued the now notorious “Santa's Team.” Of the nine cats that came off transport, ALL OF THEM were VERY SICK. A few almost died. My cats got sick, too. Then some of the fosters broke with ringworm on top of it. It was during Christmas and New Year's. I was having a nervous breakdown between vet runs every other day, the fear I'd lose a kitten and the constant care they all required--and all the extra crap that goes on during the HOLIDAYS!! The Director of the group I was with basically watched me crash and burn, saying if she didn't get a break from fostering cats SHE was going to have a nervous breakdown, too. Of course this is after she spent a few months not fostering any cats. I later learned she was just getting back at me for daring to want to make changes to her rescue group by rescuing cats right through the winter, instead of closing down for a few months. I was happy to put in the work. She just had to pay for vet care. I did everything else, but the one time I really needed help, she turned her back on me.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Conference cube meeting in session. DND.

I was very lucky all the cats survived. I couldn't have managed if Sam hadn't helped me. I was angry, I cried and flipped out. It was NOT the way to learn how to care for cats with URIs. I could have handled it better than I did, but I didn't know what I was doing. It's one of those things where you have to go through it and on the other side, you've learned and can handle it better when it happens again. Was the Director doing me a favor letting me struggle so much? No. She hung me out to dry. She said "you're on your own" when I asked if I could rescue those cats, but I took it to mean, I would care for them and get them adopted, but heck, if they were near DEATH, certainly that voided any agreement we had? Guess not.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Beardy likes Auntie Ingrid's present!

So when another rescue group was in a similar jam, I didn't turn my back on them. Doing cat rescue is not about playing games or being passive aggressive to make a point. It's about the CATS. That's why I started Kitten Associates, so we could truly be about the cats and that's it.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Spot. Where is the spot this cat is named after?

On Saturday afternoon, Connie arrived with a giant cat carrier with little bitty kittens in it. They're already 8 weeks old but they seem tiny compared to Amberly's kittens. They're sweet little love muffins. I didn't expect it to be such a pleasure to have 5 more cats in the house. They're in the DOOD's old bathroom and get to use his nifty cat tree. (thanks to our friend, Amy for donating it!) The energy level in that room is amazing. I sat with them, taking photos, while they played around my feet. EVERYTHING in the room had the potential to be a toy. What a great mantra that would be for how we live our life-to look at everything and see the joy in it.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Ruby, BB and Max.

I'm not sure of the names of these babies. From some reference photos I was sent I think they are BB, Beardy, Spot, Ruby and Max.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson.

There's not much more to say about them, other than it's nice to have them here and I hope they'll all find their forever homes soon. Until then I've reached my intake limit on cats!

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Wave to your new friends!

I hope...

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson.

Enjoy the photos!

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Watching the washing!

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Oh Spot, you're sooo cute!

As some of you may have heard, Sam and I found out our boy, Nicky is possibly in the early stages of renal failure. As we process the news and look into further tests and ways we can help him, I thought today's post should be easy on the eyes and something to get the week off to a good start.

Presenting Movie Monday!

Bob's Pumpkin Patch kittens are five weeks old! The boys, Jake, Mike and Teddy are doing very well. They're all growing and enjoying play time. Okay, so they have a way to go to figure out what the litter pan is for...oops! At least they're eating well. Teddy is the “wild child” and loves to race around so much that foster mama, Maria has a tough time getting a photo of him.

Bobette's coming out of her shell. The confinement at the shelter and the stress of not eating for 4 days while there is long passed. She's eating well and playing with the kittens. Bobette's just a kitten herself at only 10 months old. She's more like a big sister than a Mama.

At 5 weeks, the kittens are making their milestones of eating more food and depending less on mama. Their weights are good and their muscles are getting stronger. There's less wobble to their walk with more refined movements.

It's been a very sad road, losing three of their littermates right after we rescued them. I look at how well the boys are doing and wish their siblings were with them, too. What they would look like now...how they would be playing and having fun right along with their brothers. I'm grateful some of the kittens survived, but I suppose I'll always feel a haunted by the ones who didn't.

I love to look at their faces! I wish I could be with them now. I have to wait for them to get bigger before they can come up here. It's great that ever since Maria got a new cellphone, she's been able to capture photos and videos with ease. I can tell from the many emails she sent that she spent a good part of her weekend hanging out with the kittens taking photos and shooting video-and who wouldn't?

Too bad Maria can't get maternity leave from work so she could stay home with the kittens! Try to explain that one to your boss!

I hope you all have a great week. Back to doing research about cat's kidney function for me...oh, and I have 7 more kittens for you to meet starting tomorrow!

My friend, Katherine has a big heart when it comes to animals. She's a diehard volunteer for my “sister” group, Animals in Distress. She has lots of cats. What I have here pales in comparison, but even with all she's taken on, each cat gets one on one care and lots of love.

It was no different when she rescued a tiny calico kitten. I don't know what field, backyard, attic or urban street she found it on, but she had to rescue her from what would certainly have been an early death.

©2011 Katherine Reid. Timber & a 4 week old calico kitten.

In addition to cats, Katherine has my dream dog-aBernese Mountain Dog. If I could have a dog, that's what I'd have, but Sam is allergic and we have more than enough on our plate with cats that would likely not take well to a newcomer.

The dog is named, Timber and he's still a baby. Apparently he thinks he's a tiny puppy, too. I guess he hasn't looked in a mirror lately. Timber loves kitties and this little calico was no exception.

©2011 Katherine Reid. How do you do?

I wonder what the kitten thought, when she looked into those big brown eyes of that VERY BIG DOG? Timber knew to be gentle with her so she wasn't scared. Perhaps Timber's instincts kicked in-not to harm the little kitten, but to protect her?

We can only guess what was going on in their minds. All I can say is I think this little kitten just made a new friend who'll help her feel less alone in the world and I wish them both well.

I just want to know that if Katherine yells at her dog, do people in the room, duck?

Timber!

I can't believe it's been over a month since Bob passed away. It was a tough time-between losing him, then losing three neonatal kittens who were rescued in honor of Bob-it just felt like too much. I got a very bad chest cold and have been sick for four weeks. It's finally passing, but something else is going on in my home that's added to the feeling of chaos.

The heirarchy between the cats has shifted. Clearly there are power struggles going on. Cats who have regularly been a "problem" are fighting with newcomers. The result are urine puddles and poop piles that aren't in the litter pan.

I get it. I really do. Not only is Bob gone, but we're test driving Doodlebug to see if he can live harmoniously with the other cats. Mazie, who I rescued just about a YEAR ago, STILL LIVES HERE. She's become more bold and brazen. She's staking out some territory, too.

It's easy to shake a finger and tell me to not have the cats, but I see Mazie as transient and overall she's a very good cat. The problems I see are with Blitzen, Nicky and Petunia. The others manage okay and they don't spray or mark the house.

The biggest culprit is Nicky. He will literally pee on the floor right in front of me. When this 19+ pound cat lets go, a lake forms below him. He also poops by the doorways, usually one of the first things I see in the morning.

In sorting out what to do, I have to remember that Nicky could be sick. Nicky could be upset that Petunia is asserting herself more than ever now that Bob, her arch enemy is gone. To rule out illness, Nicky went to visit Dr. Larry today.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Nicky, “Mr. Lovey-Dovey” at the Vet with Sam giving him a belly rub.

Nicky has lost over a pound in the past year, which is good, unless it's a trend downward from illness. He has one tooth that might be painful so he'll need a dental. Dr Larry did some blood work and a urinalysis-the results come in tomorrow. We discussed Nicky's water intake, which has noticeably increased over the past few months. This could mean diabetes (which I doubt since I did tested him a few weeks ago and he was normal), hyperthyroid (common in older cats and Nicky is 11) or renal failure (which we hope that's not what it is). ANY of these things, including his painful tooth, could be causing him to eliminate outside the box.

Then Dr. Larry asked me how many litter pans we had. I answered that we have three that are enormous. He seemed surprised, then said that we need a lot more. I questioned him about it because with the cats on a raw diet they don't fill up the pans and we keep scooping them at least once if not more times a day. He told me about a client who has TWO cats. She has one of those perfectly clean homes. She worked long hours and came home and found pee all over the place. To solve the problem, she ended up buying a kiddie pool (!!!), then placing SIX cat litter pans INSIDE the pool with fresh litter.

The inappropriate peeing stopped.

Each of the litter pans was used over the course of the day. There might be something to this after all. Our problem is that our house is a contemporary and all the rooms are open to each other. We don't have a lot of room for litter pans, but we will MAKE SOME ROOM, that's for sure. Tonight we're going out to buy some new pans. We'll see if that makes a dent in it.

The peeing problem is quite bad. It seems every day I find another place they were peeing on. We're trying all sorts of tricks and behavior modification and we've seen a reduction to not happening at all for the pooping, but the peeing..ugh...what IS IT WITH CATS? I am honestly trying to understand what they need and to give each one love and attention. I'm failing. I have to fix this.

Then there's Gracie.

Gracie is a sweet cat. She hardly has a mean bone in her body. Gracie was one of my first foster cats about 8 years ago. She was an "unwed" Mother to three kittens. Gracie's had Miliary Dermatitis for three years. I've done every test, treatment, seen every specialist I can and so far all I know is she seems sensitive to fish and homeopathy helped her stop being so painfully shy. I also think this may be the path to helping Gracie's skin now that we have her in a more calm frame of mind. You can read more about Gracie by doing a search on GRACIE in the sidebar. A few posts about her are HERE and HERE.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. Gracie hiding under the towel. Maybe Dr. Larry won't see her?

A few nights ago I was petting Gracie. She's so jumpy I don't often get to pet more than her head, but this time she let me pet her belly. Right away my fingers detected something not right-a mass on her abdomen. It felt like an M&M.

Sam and I took her into the bathroom and tried to clip the fur away from her belly but we couldn't see much. This morning Dr. Larry got out the clippers and shaved her belly.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. The cyst is the blue thing. The scabs are scabs from her dermatitis (looks worse than it really is).

Before he shaved Gracie he felt the cyst. He had a grave look on his face that told me everything. I started to think..."Oh no..not cancer again..we just went through this with Bob...I have no resources if she's that sick." Dr. Larry explained why it didn't feel like just a simple cyst; that he couldn't get under it and the texture didn't feel right.

After he shaved Gracie he didn't look so grim. What appeared to me like a freakish blueberry, Dr. Larry thought might be, I will paraphrase, a pore, perhaps there's ingrown fur in the growth and basically it's like a big zit? I'm to put warm compresses on the thing for the next few days and see if I can encourage it to drain (pop). Weee! Fun! Almost as good as when Dr. Larry offered to let me express Bob's anal glands.

It could still be cancer. We're not out of the woods. If I can't get it to drain, then he will excise it. Gracie needs a dental, too, so he'll do both. We discussed that 3 years ago when she had her last dental, that she got this rash afterwards. He's going to sedate her differently so perhaps she will be less stressed. I know he'll go as easy on her as possible. It just seems as though her skin breaks out when she is highly stressed. I should have named her, Nervous Nelly.

As we struggle to cope with missing Bob and struggle to sort out what's going on with the remaining cats, I know that in time we'll have some answers. I just hope I'm okay with what I find out.

Normally I won't use my blog to advertise products for sale on another web site, but I felt that in this instance it was okay to break my own rules. I did not get compensation of any kind for this post, but I did get the chance to offer all of you an Exclusive 20% Off discount of anything on the site. For that, I felt it was worth sharing!

HJMews has very cool stuff. It's not cheap-fair warning! That said, if you really want to pamper your cat (like Janiss might for Sparkle the Designer Cat), then this would be worth checking out.

The Pod by Glenn Ross. Just one of the lovely items on H.J. Mews.

The H.J.Mews philosophy:

HJ Mews believes that if you want your cat to behave like a gentleman, you need to treat him like one. HJ Mews specializes in beautiful cat furniture, toys and cat beds for the discerning feline.

To get the 20% discount, just use: FALL20 code when you place your order.

Sally and Clare were barely busted out of Henry County and spayed, before Sally's sutures started to rupture and she got a hernia. Foster mom, Bobbie, got her to the Vet right away. He said it had to be fixed and was one of the worst hernias he'd seen. We didn't hesitate in saying, YES, to going forward with the surgery. Bobbie left Sally's sister, Clare with Sally at the Vet so the two would not be alone, even for a day.

©2011 Bobbie Coker of Cats-Goats-Quotes. Sally's herniated belly boo-boo!

By the next afternoon, the girls were home. Sally was recovering slowly and had to wear the “cone of shame” for about a day so she wouldn't tug her sutures out. She did well and got back on her paws quickly.

In the meantime, I asked for some help. The girls didn't have any toys and were clearly itching to play. Miss Memory and Miss Emily jumped at the chance to help and sent a VERY NICE selection of toys. The girls LOVED THEM!

©2011 Bobbie Coker of Cats-Goats-Quotes. Nom nom nom nom nom

The only problem was that Sally is not very good at sharing. She'd grab up the toys and guard over them, growling at her sister if she came near. Sally also eats FAST and jumps into Clare's dish if Bobbie isn't watching them during meal time. Okay, so maybe Sally is a bit of a brat OR she just never had toys before and good food, so maybe this is just a passing phase?

©2011 Bobbie Coker of Cats-Goats-Quotes.Are you gonna eat that?

Bobbie reported that the girls are very friendly. Sally more outgoing, Clare more reserved. They're both full of energy and want to play, over sitting in Bobbie's lap, but they do like their head skritches and pets.

©2011 Bobbie Coker of Cats-Goats-Quotes. Clare with her toys-until Sally steals them away!

A few days ago, the girls started to have very stinky poo and were having lots of accidents all over the carpeting! Bobbie took a stool sample to the vet and sure enough it was positive for Coccidia. This is why when you foster like Bobbie does, you MUST keep the foster cats separate from your own cats. Coccidia is very contagious and is spread through the litter pan so good thing Bobbie didn't let her cats share the girl's pan!

©2011 Bobbie Coker of Cats-Goats-Quotes Don't even think about taking Sally's favorite toy!

It was touch and go for a few days. The girls were having lots of accidents and Bobbie was being very gracious about having to clean it up. I shipped her some things to help with neutralizing the odors and helping clean up. I sent her some Cat Attract cat litter to see if the girls would stop having accidents if that was added to the litter. I told Bobbie it might be that the girls just didn't feel well and that hopefully they would stop going outside the litter pan as soon as they felt better.

Two days later...the girls stopped their inappropriate behavior as their stool began to firm back up and clearly they were feeling better. This is yet another example of why it's so important to get your cat to the vet when it inappropriately eliminates!

©2011 Bobbie Coker of Cats-Goats-Quotes. The snowshoe sistahs!

The girls are doing well and having loads of fun with all their toys. Thank you very much to Memory & Emily for their generosity and kindness. Bobbie and I appreciate your help and I know the girls are passing the days until they come to Connecticut with joy in their hearts with all those good toys to play with and a belly full of nom-noms.

ME-OW!

Two months ago, I rescued Basil & Nigel from certain death. Either way you looked at it, these cats were going to die. If it wasn't due to them being on death row at the shelter, it was going to be from being so grossly overweight. We had to do something FAST to save these big boys.

©2011 Betsy Merchant. Two months ago, Nigel, left with brother Basil, right, sat in a cage at Henry Co., waiting for a miracle.

We began giving them good food, but in carefully controlled portions. Both cats struggled with being very shy. They didn't even want to eat much, at first, but with carful coaxing, they began to come out of their shells. We don't know what their past was like, but it's very possible they were in a confined space and were probably left with a huge bowl of dry food nearby. All they could do is eat. Nigel had sores on his belly from laying in his own urine-a sure sign he may have spent a long period of time with little to no room to move around before he was dumped at the shelter.

Basil & Nigel were transported to the Humane Society of Forsyth County because I had no room to take them to my home in Connecticut. I've worked with Jennifer H. who is in charge of shelter intake. She loved the big boys and offered them space at the shelter. You can read more about their story HERE and HERE

©2011 Jennifer. H. Basil, slimming down to 20 pounds (with more yet to lose) and lookin' fine!

Basil and Nigel didn't do well at the shelter. Clearly, they were terrified. Jennifer took them to her home, where they still have a tough time overcoming their shyness. They've been though a lot and lived in many places over the past few months. No wonder they're struggling.

The good news is that they're both slimming down! I can't believe Basil, pictured above and below, was the once a meatloaf-sized cat!

©2011 Jennifer. H. Basil, still shy, though.

These boys still need a forever home. Their Petfinder Ads are HERE and HERE Please let your siamese-loving friends know about this special duo. There's some hope that a very wonderful family may adopt them both, but right now they still need to slim down and gain some confidence. They're in really good hands and Jennifer H. loves them dearly. She's been very compassionate regarding their care-especially getting them out of the shelter when she saw they were regressing. Way to go, Jennifer. Thank you so much for doing right by these boys!

After careful consideration, from time to time I write a product reviews. If you see it here, it's because, at LEAST I think it's worth you knowing about even if I have an issue with it and, at BEST, I think it's amazing and we should all have one, two or more of whatever it is I'm reviewing. I get NO reimbursement for writing these reviews, though to write a review I am supplied with the item, as I was in this case. This review is MY OPINION, ONLY. The result you experience using this product may differ.

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Normally my reviews are based on a modest test period that's long enough to determine whether or not it's appropriate for cats. In this case, the testing period is over A YEAR in the making. In fact, I ended up switching to this litter as a result of the test. Also, my dear cat, Bob was still living during the initial testing, so he's included in some of the photos, below.

I was a die hard Sodium-bentonite-loaded-clumping-cat-litter-user. With EIGHT CATS I need their litter to clump and be good at odor control. Even if it would gum up my cat's paws and be very tough to scrape out of the litter pan, even if it left this TERRIBLE dust ALL over the place (that was difficult to clean-and even though it was declared that the product was 99% dust free), I used it. It clumped. That's what I cared about. I'd tried litter made from other materials, such as pine, wheat, newspaper and more. They all were lacking in some way. Some failed to clump, some had a nasty odor or texture and the cats wouldn't use it. The only other time I used any different litter was when I was fostering very young kittens, who are known to eat their litter. In that case I would use clay, non-clumping litter, but even then, I was sorely tempted to sneak a layer of clumping litter below the clay layer so I could still clean the litter pan with some measure of ease.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson.

I decided to try World's Best Cat Litter™ after receiving a seven pound bag of their Multiple Cat Clumping Formula, along with a cute litter mat. I started my test with a BRAND NEW litter pan that I purchased, to make sure the cats were getting only the smell of the new litter. I also offered my cats, in a separate, new litter pan, the litter they were used to using-clumping “concrete” litter.

The litter, itself is a nice golden color and the granules are small. The more like sand, the better my cat will like it. It has an odd odor since it's corn, slightly sweet, but it didn't overpower me and I don't notice it other than when I refresh the litter in the pan.

The test period was supposed to be a few weeks. Instead, I ended up switching my litter to WBCL, so my observations about the product have been going on for over a year.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. You can tell this was taken awhile ago. Blitzen still looks like a baby!

World's Best Cat Litter is made from whole kernal corn grown in the United States. On their web site, they list their product benefits. Some are included, below. My comments about their benefits, follow.

Because it's made from corn, it's generally safe to just flush down the toilet, even if you have a septic tank. Now remember, septic tanks are designed to contain waste from only a certain number of people living in a home. Adding lots of flushed litter is like adding another person's waste to your septic tank (depending on how much you flush), so use common sense if you chose to do this. I do not flush my litter and I do have a septic tank.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Um..wait until I put the litter in the pan!

World's Best lasts longer than the same amount of other litters. I found this to be the case, as well. Though we scoop the litter pans at least once a day, we don't find ourselves racing out to buy more litter as often as we did prior to using WBCL. That said, we feed a raw diet to our cats and they produce less waste overall. I also tested this on Kitten Associates foster kittens, who had to be over 8 weeks old, as is suggested on the package. The amount of waste was much greater in the kittens and I found the multi-cat begin to lose its' effectiveness between the last litter cleaning at night and the first in the morning. The odor control was not effective. That said, I had up to 6 foster cats using just one large litter pan and to continue to clump well or provide good odor control is a lot to ask of any litter. The litter DID clump well, even in a loaded pan, but the odor control failed. I would say the tipping point is when more than half of the pan is made up of waste...and that is A LOT of waste!

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Bob gets in his first sniff (and nibble) of the litter.

Easy to Scoop. Yes! Indeed. You don't need a chisel to scrape the bottom of the pan. The litter clumps very well and is easy to lift out of the pan. Compared to what I was accustomed to, I found it to be not as rock solid, but how strong of a clump do you need? As long as it clumps well, you can effectively clean the pan.

DUST! Everyone HATES dust! The silica based litter I used was AWFUL. There was a layer of thick dust I constantly had to battle with. It got EVERYWHERE and I worried about what it was doing to my lungs and my cat's, as well. With WBCL, I do NOT have a similar issue about dust. One litter pan is near a TV set in the foster room. The screen would be covered in dust every day with the old litter. Now, I only dust it as I'd do the rest of my house. I don't see any buildup or feel like I'm choking in a cloud of particulate when I pour the litter into the pan.

Issues, weirdness, wondering...

I'd heard this through the grapevine that cats EAT WBCL. It's true. Some of my cats nibbled at it. I do believe some of them ate it when I wasn't looking. Two cats got sick. One with helicobactor pylori and the other with a mysterious infection. I CANNOT SAY FOR CERTAIN if it was from eating the litter, but I do have x-rays that show the litter inside one of the cat's digestive tract. There was NO other explanation of those granules appearing on x-ray. The cats only eat canned grain-free food. If your cat eats the litter, you have to stop using it.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Smells like corn!

At the time, we weren't certain about the litter involvement. One cat does not use that litter any more (just to be safe) and the other does. There has not been a repeat of any illness that could be associated wtih eating the litter. I also feel that if you were to scoop a bit of dirty litter into the WBCL when you first start to use it, you may not have this issue. You're clearly telling your cat what the litter is for, so hopefully your cat won't be tempted to nibble.

A few moths ago, WBCL came out with a Lavender scented litter using 100% all natural oil in a very small amounts. My guess is that adding the scent, keeps the cats from eating it. Their stated reason for it is because owners want a scented litter. I find this a bit odd since most owners should not want ANY scent in their litter. Cats have refined sense of smell and can become litterbox averse over the smallest change. I did a short test using the scented and one cat used it without a problem, but I did not care for the smell.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Bob and Blitzen were immediately interested in the new litter.

Another weirdness-It's been over a year since I started using WBCL and in the past few months I've noticed my cats urinating on the BAG. At first I thought it was due to some sort of territorial marking, so I moved the bags into an area away from the cats. A few days ago, I discovered my foster cats were doing the SAME THING and they're in a room by themselves so this can't be a behavioral issue. I'm not sure why they peed (a lot) on the opened bags. I asked a representative from WBCL about it and no one else has mentioned this as being an issue. They are looking into it, but so far, my cats are either freaks or something is going on with the bags.

The Pros and Cons-

I like World's Best Cat Litter MUCH BETTER than silica based clumping, newspaper, wheat or pine litters. It's more expensive if you compare it based on cost per pound versus other litters, but it DOES last longer. The scent of the corn litter is a bit odd. I think in a small space sometimes it makes me sneeze quite a bit, but...I will still use it because I did NOT have an issue with it being dusty-far from it. It clumps well and now that the cats aren't eating it, I can trust using it. I DO NOT care for the 17 pound sized bag and I don't have the strength to handle the 34 pound sized bag. It's NOT easy (at all) to open the bag and once open it's difficult to manage. I liked the box style litter that other brands use. It's a much easier to handle. I hope WBCL rethinks their packaging for bags over 7 pounds in weight. My cats easily made the transition to using the new litter and preferred it over their old clumping litter by FAR and I would rather they have corn on their paws and in their lungs, than chemically enhanced clay.

Even with some mild concerns, I'll still keep using World's Best Cat Litter and suggest others give it a try.

If you'd like to Win a 7 pound bag of World's Best Cat Litter™, I'm doing a Giveway to FOUR LUCKY FOLKS. Simply post a comment in this blog post and include in the title: “I WANT THE BEST FOR MY CATS”. In the comment section, add your name and e-mail address.

If you would prefer to e-mail me your entry, you can contact me at info@coveredincathair.com Put “I WANT THE BEST FOR MY CATS” in the subject line, your name and email address in the body of the message. DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS OCTOBER 15, 2011 AT 5PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME. Winners will be notified via e-mail. Open to residents of the United States of America, only.

I've been an avid fan of Apple products since my first computer in 1991. As a Graphic Designer, it just made sense to use their products, but along the way, I fell in love. I attended many MacWorld Expos in the mid to late 1990's. Attending Steve Jobs Keynote session was always one of the hot tickets to get and luckily, since some of my clients were software developers, I always got in to see the presentation.

I remember going to MacWorld Boston in 1997. Apple was in the dumps. Many of us feared that we would lose our beloved computers. It was the year they changed the Apple logo from the rainbow colored stripes to the all white version we see today. We were seated in an old Church. There were big screens lit up with the new image. When I saw it, I thought all the joy left the company-this new white logo was a signal to the end. Then, to make it worse, Steve graciously introduced BILL GATES via satellite, to talk to us about how Microsoft was going to BAIL OUT APPLE. We all BOOED. Steve handled it well and told us it was a good thing. We didn't want to believe it, but at that point we'd let even the Devil himself save Apple.

I don't have to tell you what happened next, but it was a rocky road for many years. Some left and gave up on Apple, but those of us in the design community were never going to go to PC's.

In 2000, I attended MacWorld NYC. It was a smaller show, nothing compared to the Moscone Center in San Francsico. That MacWorld was enormous-spanning two convention centers, it took a day just to get through one side of the show. It was the mid-1990's and I was lucky enough to attend many after-show parties, hobknob with celebrities and dance the night away. It was an AMAZING time filled with computer-nerdy-geeky friends, many of which I'm still close to today.

A fun fact about my past-I was a Chat Hostess on America Online. My group was called “the Secret SIG” (SIG=Special Interest Group). We met online in a chat room on AOL every Sunday night at midnight for five years. I never missed a chat. I stopped being known as Robin and was called by my screen name; Kitty. We talked about technology, art and design. I had special guests from WIRED Magazine, Apple, Adobe, NBC, Macromedia...and we were feverish about what was going to happen next and it was a great venue to talk about it. We were riding the wave of the latest and greatest technical innovations and some of us were even the brains behind creating that wave. Steve Jobs was a part of most of our discussions and dreams of the future.

Seeing Steve Jobs on stage was like seeing a rock star perform. Steve had a perfect sense of timing. We may have had an idea of what he might be sharing with us, but he always had a few surprises up his sleeve. We'd all sit there fussing in our seats, ready to jump to our feet, as we often did when he'd demo something really cool. He was the perfect pitch-man, but he loved what he did and his passion was contagious. I always felt high as a kite after one of his sessions. I'm very grateful to have had those experiences and been able to share that with my friends.

They say we lost a visionary and that's true, but Steve Jobs knew the power of building a team of top notch talent and knew how to get them to get the job done-whatever it takes. That devotion to a leader doesn't come easily or to just anyone. While I'm brokenhearted Mr Jobs is gone, I'm grateful he has an amazing team left to carry on.

Things will never be the same without Steve Jobs. Our lives are better for him being out there, making magic come to life. He will be greatly missed. Now Steve can smile down on us from iHeaven.

So what do little orange kittens have to do with Steve Jobs? Well, I couldn't write this blog without my studly quad-core Mac or edit the video of the kittens without iMovie. Even the mouse I use, was because of Steve's genius. I take photos with my iPhone and sort out details of a cat rescue via text messages. It's so much more than that. I couldn't connect to all of you without his achievements being part of the tools I use.

To soften the great sadness I feel, here are the latest updates on Bob's Pumpkin Patch. Bobette and the kittens are doing great. We've had many worries that they were going to get sick. It could still happen, but so far, so good. No sign of URI, knock wood!

Kittens are fat, wobbly and wonderful.

I admit I'm jealous of Maria. She gets to enjoy watching them grow, learn and explore their world. Looking at their endearing faces-knowing that opening her home to foster them, saved their lives.

As the world mourns, somewhere out there is the next Steve Jobs. We may not know of him or her for many years to come, but that person is out there. In the meantime, life goes on. Let's make the most of it.