WTF?!

Looks like our good friend, Sockington made the headlines again. Fortunately it was not due to having many secret Mistresses. Socks was at it again, being featured for his Twitter follower-prowess, which is now at over 1.5 MILLION! Socks is so big, he caught the attention of THE People Magazine-May 17th issue, page 152! Are we proud of you, Socks, well, DUH, of course!

Would we be AS proud of you if PeoplePets didn't do an additional article about you called: “The 5 Things You Didn't Know About Sockington?” (that happened to include our former foster, Tweetie?) Well, yesssssss, yes. Of course!

See point number 2, above. Thank you to Helin Jung, my charming friend at PeoplePets for including Tweetie and moreso for declaring aloud that I'm a comedian to the general public! Maybe I can get a booking doing a “stand up comedy, socializing feral cats world tour,” next?

Who knows what's next? I know that Tweetie is doing well, hogging the food at meal time so he has to be separated from Socks and Penny Cat and that otherwise he's getting along well with his “Dad.” Of course what PennyCat thinks in another story.

Oh and WELCOME People Pets readers! I forgot my manners. Hope you'll come back and visit again, soon!

I promise. No more creepy close up shots of my feet! (see below a few posts..wait, no, don't look).

Anyone who visits this web site regularly knows there aren't enough cat photos. There just aren't. Thankfully, Davander Mobile just released the latest version of CatPaint for lucky iPhone and iPod Touch owners. For 99 cents it's great for creating absolutely absurd images using your own photos as a background. Then you simply add their pre-loaded cat images to any "catless" image or add more cats to an existing photo; if you feel badly that you only have 2 cats and want to seem more like a hoarder (like me with 8 cats).

I swiped a few examples off the Cat Paint Gallery so you can see the work of true “artistes.“ It's very simple to pick up on how to create your own Catserpiece, and during the creation, the cat art meows every time you place one! Great for taunting real cats while you do your art.

As seen on Cat Paint's Gallery Page! Nice job, whoever you are!

Of course if Taylor Swift can enjoy this, well, that just says it all. What it says, I do not know, but heck there's a CAT in the photo. WIN!

I just did my own Cat Painting. It might not have been Mewseeum quality and of course I would pre-fur an option to add my own cats. Maybe that will happen in a future version, but for now, I feel satisfied that my boring photo of the Tappen Zee Bridge has been transformed into a moving tribute to something. Maybe. Maybe not a tribute, but not a bad effort. Okay. Just look at the photo I made and like me so I can feel good about myself! I don't have Taylor Swift's legs...or anything else that she's got, for that matter.

©2010 Robin AF Olson. “The Bridge to Tabbybithia”

So go. Create art. Or bug someone with an iPhone to share this app with you. Just don't bug me. I'm busy creating another catsterpiece.

To My Cats:

Every day I make sure you get wholesome food to eat, a clean place to “do your business,” fresh water, open windows to watch the birdies from, sunny places to sleep and more beds than any human in this house has.

I ask for little in return; that you get along with each other, you find fulfillment and happiness here, that you show me a moment or two of affection from time to time.

What I really don't care for is when you lose control of your mind and decide to use my feet for traction in your attempt to escape each other's wrath.

Really. Do you need to aim for my feet when there's another 2599 sq ft (pardon the pun) of space to freak out in? Can't you just AVOID ME, ME, your dear “Mother,” when your claws are out?

You know I could do something about those claws. I could. But I'm a nice person, so instead of taking your claws, this afternoon while you're passed out asleep, under my desk, I'm going to get an air horn and “accidently” fire it off.

But first, let me put on my shoes.

Get out your brushes, gang, the wildlife of the Gulf Coast region need our help!

Did you know that human hair and pet fur is GREAT at absorbing OIL? There's a non-profit organization, called Matter of Trust. They collect hair from salons, pet hair from shelters, rescues, schools, individuals-anyone who's got HAIR! They create hair filled "booms" using ladies nylon pantyhose, then drop them onto oil spills and the hair does the rest!

Photo by Matter of Trust

What a simple and wonderful way to help with this tragedy in the Gulf!

Here's the info from their web site:

Everyone can take part!
No matter where you are. No matter if you're with a salon or groomer or if you're a volunteer.

First, please SIGN UP to their Excess Access program. It's FREE and FAST.
It is their mass donation matching database system.

They cannot give out addresses for where to send hair, fur and nylons unless you are signed up, because as the spill moves so do the recipient sites and we don't want any boxes returned to you. And they don't want any boxes coming there after the spill.

START BRUSHING, GANG! LET'S SEE SOME PHOTOS OF THE CLIPPINGS BEFORE YOU SEND THEM OUT! Best pile of fur photo will be featured here and on our Facebook fan page!

I want to see at least 100 times better than this:

This is a bit of Nicky, Nora, Bob & Spencer, but I know I can do bigger and better (without the cats going bald!)

Get to it and PLEASE pass this info along to your friends! You can also visit Matter of Trust on FACEBOOK.

There's nothing like the glow of the Northern Lights as they dance across the arctic sky. If you ever get a chance to witness this amazing phenomena, you should. You'll never forget the sight. They're not easy to photograph, which is why I wanted to share these photos with you.

There's nothing like the glow of...

But wait, what's that, you say? This is not an image of the aurora borealis? Is this an all-too-familiar sight?

Yes, sports fans, this is cat pee, phosphorescing under the glow of a black light. It's located ACROSS the end of my hallway, right next to the door where the foster cats are housed. Makes sense that my resident cats would show me their disappointment in my choosing to bring yet more cats into the house by marking their territory right next to the offending room.

But what's this, you ask?

Notice the spray, then the dribbly puddle on the floor. Someone was ANGRY. It wasn't me. That's all I know. I can't aim that well.

This would be near the landing to the second floor. Any cat that passes this spot will know that one cat has deemed any point past belongs to HER. I'm fairly sure this was done by Petunia, who of all my cats, is my biggest pain in the ass. She is high strung and nervous. Lately she's decided she wants to own the bedroom. This is her warning to others. I would have preferred that she simply issue a memo to everyone via email, than urinate on the wall.

I wonder what Jay & Grant on Ghost Hunters would make of this?

Difficult to see, but this area of the wall near our master bath was covered with cat markings. Am I without any sense of smell? Surely not. I made the mistake of thinking I smelled pee just ONCE, then going on a mission to see where the offense had occurred. To my dismay, across a majority of my bedroom and second floor hallway the walls were marked.

Anyone who has to deal with this, knows it's a nightmare to diagnose, YES, diagnose and a nightmare to stop. In my next post, I'm going to talk about ways to figure out what is going on and how to clean it up.

I haven't checked the first floor of my house yet. I'm too scared. For now I'm re-checking the second floor every night to determine if this is ongoing or if it happened a long time ago and I only just found it.

Maybe I should start a gallery of art photos of cat peed walls? It's unique! At least it would help bring in a few dollars so I can afford to load up on a prescription of Xanax and scented candles for myself.

Circa 2006, the cats gather 'round the fridge. Is it for a late night snack? In so many words, YES.

Go ahead, YOU tell me what this means. Don't need a manual to understand this cat behavior I photograhped in 2006, right?

Coincidently, the same thing is going on in my bathroom right now. Some critter is makin' a whole lotta noise in the wall behind the shower stall. Sweet! Guess it's time to pull out the havahart trap before my cats find whatever creature has moved in.

By the way, the mouse that was under the fridge was probably depressed and suicidal because I can't figure out any other reason why a mouse would DARE come into my house!

Isn't that sweet! Not only a big spill of cat litter to clean up, but a BONUS, HUGE, HAIRBALL! Wowie. The cats really missed me.

There's nothing better than walking in the front door after a long trip away from home...or...maybe that's not quite true.

Apparently, Blitzen likes to hang over the top of the cat litter box and dig into the litter, which ends up knocking it over, spilling it all over the floor. Why can't he play with the 10,000 cat toys just a few feet away from him in the living room? Is that too much to ask?

Also, please note, we have a contender to the biggest hairball contest! The tiles are 12" square, so this could easily be a 4-5 incher! Scientific investigation will have to be done to determine if this could be a winning hairball.

It's so good to be home!

COUGH.

OK, OK, OK!

I realize that giving you guys just a week to procure a photo of an earth shattering, humungous hair ball was asking a bit too much. After all, it's not like we can command or predict when our cats will blast off a fur missile.

With that in mind, I have decided to open up the deadline to ONE MONTH FROM TODAY to May 15, 2010 midnight EST.. If your cat hasn't horked a hair ball, then you have a hairless cat or are very lucky.

Go forth and remember to STOP before you clean up the spew. Grab a ruler to add to the photo and send it off to info@coveredincathair.com .

Winning photos will be posted here and maybe I will send you something fun for your efforts or maybe I won't...if you don't send me your address or if you annoy me.

Bob Dole (my cat, not the ex-candidate for Vice President) has been coughing for about a week. I admit I didn't give him enough hairball remedy, but thankfully he, somehow, managed to hork this bad boy up.

Okay, it's gross, but you have to admit it's impressive, too! In all the years of discovering hairballs, I've never seen one this big.

So now, my dear readers, I challenge you. Can your cat blast a bigger hair hunk? You've got a week. You can't "make" a fake hairball with your hands or in photoshop. You need to include a ruler next to said hairball so we can see how long it is. It's gotta be the real thing. Also, include a photo of the cat who did the “horking.”

To enter, you must email a photo of the hairball w/ruler and photo of the cat who “made” it to: info@coveredincathair.com by Friday, April 23, 2010.

Prizes? Hey, do I look like I'm sponsored by a major corporation? I might have a Furminator or a box of Catnip Tea I can toss your way. Is it great motivation for you to send in pix? Heck no. Is bragging rights worth something to you? I think, YES! The winning hairball will be posted right here on CiCH, along with a photo of the now somewhat less hairy cat (if the owner provides one).

So stop cleaning up those messy hairballs and get out your camera, first!

Note: open to anyone who has a camera, a cat and a cat who just puked up a hairball. Please DO NOT HARM or otherwise induce your cat to vomit. I mean, really, do I have to put that in writing?