Hi there and a very warm welcome to all the new subscribers who have joined us recently.
Did you enjoy the Scratching Post? It certainly netted a few more entries into the caption competition and book quiz. There is still time to enter both competitions if you want to:
Stormy’s Food Bowl Attendant wrote to me this week to tell me that Stormy had suffered some kind of stroke or neurological disorder. She went to the vets and stayed for almost a week having all sorts of diagnostic tests carried out because the vets were stumped at what was causing her problems. Meanwhile, we hold Stormy in our heartfelt prayers for a speedy recovery.
Jimmy, with his house mates, is in a cattery in Malvern while his humans are moving house. He is 23 years of age, has had one eye removed and the remaining eye has limited vision, but he is spot on with his observations about life. Hope he’s back on form next time.
Casey (KC) the new cat in the Daily Mews Mansion, celebrated his 2nd birthday on the longest day (or the shortest day – depending on where you live in the world!) 21st June. My vet, Kevin, estimated his age at being between 1 – 2 years which concurred with my thoughts. Not knowing his exact date of birth I plumped for 21st June because it’s halfway through the year. So although he could be a bit younger, or a bit older, his ‘2nd’ birthday was 21st June!
Lynn Schiffhorst wrote to tell me some exciting news that I want to share with you. Lynn, as you may remember, has written a lot of fabulous stories which you’ll find in her own section of the website in the Articles section. She’s had a book of the most delightful poems published and you can download it from Amazon on this link:
Let’s get on with the Mews:
AMAZING CATS (CAT CHAT)
Could your cat be a therapy cat? Read Debra White’s account of Dexter, who became a therapy cat:
Dexter, an extraordinary therapy cat
A’MEWS’MENT ARCADE
This next piece first appeared in Arlene’s Angels, a supplement sent out by Arlene Sphikas. To sign up for her monthly newsletter on all things feline, please send an email to:ASphikas@aol.com
ARTICLES
John Grafton has written another of his insightful stories about the cats in his life and this one features, Boo, a little cat that came to live with his mother.
Boo, little kitty lost and found part 1
Boo, little kitty lost and found part 2
Rosie Sorenson sent me this piece she wrote about her Siamese cat, Sugar:
BOOK REVIEWS
The Feline Detective by Clare Hayes is a fantastic read. You’ll love it.
I was fortunate enough to be sent a copy of James Bowen’s latest book ahead of its publication on 4th July. It’s another fantastic read and I couldn’t put it down:
CAT CHAT
Claude Bouchard from Canada wrote this lovely short story about his cat Midnight:
Has a cat or a dog that has left your life been responsible for bringing another cat or dog to your home? That’s just what happened with our next story. Emily Hartmeyer’s story about her cat, Jerry, appeared in a recent issue of Angel Animals. You can read it here:
Do write and let me know if that has happened to you. p.dewberry@ntlworld.com
Emily has a friend, Jane Staly who wrote this next piece: ‘Finding a New Love’ which I know will resonate with many of you. I’m sure Jane won’t mind me letting you all in on a secret: Jane is 92 years young! And she is still writing beautiful pieces about her cat.
Tom Cox, the author of Talk to the Paw and Confessions of a Cat Man lives with his three cats in Norfok (UK). He wrote this next article (which he gave me permission to put on my website) last year and it appeared in a national newspaper:
FELINE FITNESS
It’s a fact that over 50% of cats in the UK are overweight. Your Cat magazine (July 2013 issue) has an interesting and informative article which should help everyone to give their cat the right amount of food each day.
I am grateful to Your Cat magazine for giving me permission to produce the article on the website.
MEWSERS’ MEWSINGS
Despite Dippi Duck’s sudden passing away recently, we know she would have liked her stories to continue so here at the Daily Mews we’re proud and honoured to honour her wishes. Here are the next chapters in her story with comments from her carer Willi Whiskas at the end of each entry. Enjoy.
Little Dumpty Roo, the snooty Himalayan Lynx is continuing her diaries and you can read the latest entries here on these links:
The Saga Continues – (Part 23)
The Saga Continues – (Part 24)
The Saga Continues – (Part 25)
The Saga Continues – (Part 26)
We have a wonderful surprise for you this month. Carol Lake who writes Willi Whiskas, Dippi-Duck’s Demon and Dumpty’s Diaries wrote a book called Teddie Tumpkins and the Tiddleswick Tail Lifters. She has graciously allowed me to serialise it on the website. Line drawings are by J Turner.
Here’s the introduction where the Tiddleswick Tail Lifters have written to Sam, Ollie and Casey to see if they can help with a particular problem:
Introduction to Teddie Tumpkins and the Tiddleswick Tail Lifters
PURRFECT POETRY
Genine Hanns who wrote last month’s piece about ‘how angels speak’ wrote this poem, too, called ‘Angel of Cats’ which you’ll find in the Purrfect Poetry section. I still have over 100 poems to transfer over from the ‘old look’ website so if your poem isn’t showing at the moment, please be patient with me as it takes a long time to transfer every thing over.
PUSSY PROBLEM PAGE
Little Dumpty Roo has written a heartfelt letter to Sam, Ollie and Casey. Her Human met, and fell in love with, a Tushtots’ lookalike and returned home from her holiday to Malta even sadder than before she went. While Sam, Ollie and Casey put their wise heads together to give Dumpty an answer, they wondered if the wonderful and equally wise subscribers to the Daily Mews had any thoughts on Dumpty’s problem?
Read Dumpty’s letter and then write with your thoughts/opinions to Sam, Ollie and Casey c/o p.dewberry@ntlworld.com I’ll pass the best onto Dumpty and her Human and publish the outright winner in the next website update.
Sam, Ollie and Casey will also add their opinions too.
A friend of mine on Twitter has asked me to help promote his Facebook page which is Help2RehomeScotland. He is trying to get dogs that have been abandoned on the streets of Scotland into loving homes. You can help by going to his Facebook page and liking it. Once he’s reached a target number of likes, a pet food distributor will donate a ton of dog food to help him with his ongoing costs of looking after these dogs. So do please go and support a very worthy cause. Thank you. You’re not asked to donate any money, just a few minutes of your time and ‘like’ his page. Simple!
http://www.facebook.com/h2rscotland
Well that about wraps it up for this time. Have a fabulous and safe 4th July everyone and as usual, I’m always grateful for any feedback, good, bad or indifferent. So do please write.
In the meantime, have a good month and we’ll see you next time.
Love from:
Pauline – chief editor and lap provider
Sam – hearing impaired sub-editor
Ollie – assistant to the sub-editor
Casey – assistant to the assistant to the sub-editor and all round gofer
"Cats make one of the most satisfying sounds in the world: they purr ...
A purring cat is a form of high praise, like a gold star on a test paper. It is reinforcement of something we would all like to believe about ourselves - that we are nice."
Roger A Caras