Dog Wash benefits animal shelter – Sat., June 11

Let’s face it…dogs get dirty. They like to roll in the grass and it doesn’t matter if it’s wet. When you walk them in the rain and there are puddles…that’s just another way to get dirty.

C.A.R.E. understands dogs and that’s why they are holding a dog wash on Saturday, June 11 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the shelter grounds at 2320 Oakton St.

Bring your pooch for a wash and towel dry for $10. Get Fido’s nails clipped for $10 as well. All proceeds benefit the Evanston Animal Shelter, so you know it’s for a good cause.

Parking Notice: Please park your vehicle in the PetsMart parking lot (section near Oakton St.) and cross at the light. A crossing guard will be stationed there throughout the Dog Wash.

Walk with or without your dog in the 16th Annual C.A.R.E. Strut for Strays

The 16^th Annual Strut for Strays will be held Saturday, May 14, at 9:30 a.m. and is a walkathon based in Evanston to benefit the Community Animal Rescue Effort (C.A.R.E.). Animal-loving people, with or without their canine friends, are encouraged to participate in the three-mile walk. 

Walkers may register online by clicking C.A.R.E. There is a $25 pledge minimum for advance registration or $35 on event-day per person. Event-day registration runs from: 8:45-9:15 a.m.

The walk starts at the Ladd Arboretum in Evanston, near the corner of McCormick Blvd. and Bridge Street. Parking is available in the Arboretum lot (or on side streets if the lot is full). Please do not park in the Ecology Center lot. 

Walkers and joggers will follow the path along the North Shore Channel south almost to Dempster Street, where there will be a water station and a turn-around point. After you have completed the course, catch the fun at the finish line including: 

• Free Refreshments
• Doggie Carnival

C.A.R.E. is an all-volunteer organization that works in conjunction with Evanston's municipal Animal Shelter to find homes for the unwanted and abandoned animals that are brought to the shelter.

Celebrate “Cinco de Meow” with Felines Inc. – Thursday, May 5

This promo comes under the ‘better late than never’ category. We couldn’t pass up the chance to plug a fund-raising event on behalf of Felines Inc. that is cleverly named “Cinco de Meow.” It will be held Thursday, May 5, from 6-8 p.m. at Trader Todd's Bar and Restaurant, 3216 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago.

Advance tickets are $20 and include three drink tickets (good for margaritas, well-cocktails, domestic draft beer and house wine), a make-your-own fajita bar and a purrfect time for all! The best part is that Trader Todd's will donate $15 of the $20 to Felines Inc. Tickets can also be bought at the door for $25. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Felines, here’s the scoop. It was founded in 1977, as a licensed cageless, no-kill cat shelter on Chicago's north side. As a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, it is funded through adoption fees, fund-raising events, foundations and the generous tax-deductible donations of caring individuals such as readers of this blog. Felines receives no federal or state funding.

This animal shelter holds a special place in our mom’s heart as she adopted the kitty she had before us from there. According to mom, our older sister Casey joined her family as a kitten. She ‘terrorized’ her older brother Red, who had lived peacefully alone with mom for nearly 10 years. 

Red wasn’t a shelter cat, he was a rescued stray who arrived at our mom’s home via our Aunt Patty. She’s our hero as she has rescued countless cats over the years (plus a squirrel or two and a possum...don't ask). 

You can be our hero, too. Attend Cinco de Meow and invite all of your friends. Can’t go to the fundraiser…visit to the Felines Inc. site and make a donation. Muchas gracias!

Feline birthday girls speak out

In honor of our birthday, Mom is finally giving us another shot at the computer keyboard. She’s been so busy with job hunting tasks and posts to her blog (“Eco Gal 24/7”) that our little paws haven’t been able to type for weeks.

Mom adopted us around Valentine’s Day in 1998 when we were 10 months old. The vet told her that would put our DOB somewhere around April 20, 1997 and that makes us 14 years old this year. In the feline lifespan, we are senior citizens and recently posed for RTA transit cards and regularly sneak over to the Century Theater for all-day Monday senior-rate movies (just kidding).

As usual, Mom was so occupied with her blog and posting about Shredding Day and some church’s Earth Day Bash, that she’s late helping us with our birthday blog. We don’t know what the heck Shredding Day means…but sign us up! Cats wrote the book on shredding and to think there’s a day devoted to it.

We've got the blue one.

For this birthday we got two new toys…a catnip mouse and a dangle-type toy with a mouse attached. Those toys were great fun for a couple of hours but now we’re bored with them. She even splurged to buy our favorite kibble…Hill’s Science Diet ® Hairball Control. Mom showed us the receipt and a seven pound bag costs $21.99. 

“Too bad they don’t make Cheerios ® with a hairball control formula,” Mom said. She’s such a kidder. OMG…Cheerios! Do we need to start worrying about cholesterol, too? 

Anyway, we’re happy with our Science Diet and promise to try and chew it into smaller pieces so neither of us throws it up whole. For the last couple of years, we’ve been given kibble that’s for senior cats and those flavors are blah.

Sashi's beautiful green eyes.

We’ll admit to being ‘seniors’ but don’t banish us to a rocking chair. Shadoe can still jump 0-to-6 from floor to bathroom sink or kitchen counter. While Sashi may have lost some of her jumping confidence, she can still zoom from the kitchen to the bedroom window and back in record time. 

Guess what? We’re bored again and ready to give our new toys a few more whacks and sniffs. Actually, Shadoe likes to carry the dangler from room to room. We’ll sign off for now and be back soon with a look at eco friendly cat litters.

Can a true-blue cat person fall into puppy love?

Our mom is back from her visit to New York City and she is jazzed. She kept going on and on about some d-o-g named Belle. Mom claims to miss us when she travels, but from our point of view, she’ll take up with whatever pet surrogate is available. Seriously…a dog? 

We’ve had our breakfast and now need a nap. We’d title this post “Our mom the dog slut.” She can finish this one without our help.

Jealous feline name calling aside, my brief trip to NYC for the Business of Pet Writing Conference knocked out my cabin fever and more. Initially, being a true-blue cat person, it didn’t occur to me that the dog show would be in a few days. Walking through the lobby of the Hotel Pennsylvania, I noticed that every other person was attached to a dog on a leash. 

Then I had a forehead-smacking V-8 moment…the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be held right across the street at Madison Square Garden, February 14-15, 2011.

Belle

In my humble opinion, the doggy du jour was a sweet Cockapoo named Belle. It was love at first sniff. She didn’t seem to mind the residual smell of felines. Kudos to Belle’s guardian Lee for her good behavior…no paws on the legs and sloppy kisses from this dignified little gal. No barks, just happy tail wagging and butt wiggling. Who could resist?

As I settled into the guest room, Belle offered her assistance by jumping on the bed. Still, she kept a polite distance from my clothes, toiletries and other assorted items. Amazing what we can learn from pets…live in the moment. Enjoy attention and soothing words from a new person.

When traveling, my days are filled with activities…conference going, sightseeing, shopping, dining out and soaking up a new city. I’m not too keen on being out alone after dark (even at home), so tend to spend much of the late evening in my room. Belle was willing and able to assume the role of surrogate pet.

Belle burrows her head into paws.

She curled up nearby as I checked emails, made phone calls, read conference materials or watched television. My Saturday evening dinner with friends ended earlier than her dad’s night out. A full day of intensive listening, note-taking and networking followed by dinner (including a glass of wine and two espresso cups of chocolate mousse) left me too sleepy to stay up for the 11 o’clock news. 

Belle happily jumped on the bed and inched up from the foot to a warmer spot along my side. Lee’s listing on AirBnb.com mentioned that he had a small dog. It didn’t say she would capture my heart.

Back home now and spent the night with my two cave kitties, who forgave me quickly for a four-day fling with the Big Apple and a happy little d-o-g named Belle.

Can the Business of Pet Writing Conference in NYC quell cabin fever?

Hey everyone, this is Shadoe reporting that my mom is smiling as she plans a trip to New York City. That makes her happy because travel is one of her favorite things. She hasn’t taken a trip in more than a year and is complaining about cabin fever.

My third favorite thing is hanging out with Mom (after eating and sleeping). She spent a lot of time this weekend researching a low-cost winter getaway. When she searches online and uses the mouse, I can stay on her lap because she’s not using the keyboard.

One of my favorite games is to jump on the file cart next to Mom’s desk, creep onto her lap and head-butt her right arm. If she’s using the mouse, I can stay. If not, she'll put me on the floor or a nearby chair. I’ll repeat the process once or twice before giving up. Mom will say, “Shadoe! You are relentless.”

Being relentless can't be too bad as her tone of voice is more exasperated than mad. Didn’t think we cats could distinguish vocal tones? Believe me, I know when it’s time to leave Mom alone and go snuggle with Sashi.

This Chicago winter has been particularly brutal as cold weather goes (read our last post for more on that). Low-cost travel translates to tax-deductible and brief, so Mom started looking on ShawGuides to find a writers’ conference that sounded interesting.

She squealed when she read about the Business of Pet Writing Conference in NYC next month. “Shaddy…I didn’t even know there were conferences for pet writing,” she said.

Mom should be a travel agent…loves researching and planning trips. First she looked for cheap airfares to NYC. Then she recalled that the conference hotel is near Penn Station and went to Amtrak’s site to check train fares. Bingo! A round-trip fare from Chicago to NYC would be $140. Traveling to the East Coast takes less time so an overnight train ride would be tolerable.

The next step was a visit to www.airbnb.com a good source for low-cost rooms. Don’t ask me how Mom knew to narrow the search for those rooms closest to the conference, but she figured it out. Wow, a private room in Midtown Manhattan can cost $200 or more. Luckily, some are in the more affordable $68-$125 range.

This site is great because you can screen for amenities such as wireless Internet, TV and breakfast. As a writer, Mom needs access to the Web for her laptop and it's better if your room offers it for free. Coffee houses and public libraries usually have Wi-Fi, but there are time limits.

Sorry, all of this activity has worn me out. Browsing the Web is Mom’s thing, not mine. My eyes are heavy and the computer screen is getting blurry. Sashi, make room for me!

Adopt a pet during the 12 Strays of Christmas

Even though we were born with fur coats, it has been cold with a capital ‘C’ for the past couple of weeks. Our mom lives in a historic condo building. ‘Historic’ is a code word for ‘drafty’ which means cold. Despite windows, storm windows and curtains, when the temperature drops into the teens and there are wind chills…an old building can get pretty cold. This is especially true at nighttime when the steam radiators are at rest.

We stay a bit warmer at night by being cave kitties. That’s when mom lets us come under the comforter and snuggle with her. We get her body heat and she gets ours…it’s a win-win.

Sadly, that’s not the case for many cats and dogs who are awaiting adoption from animal shelters. Oh, we’re sure the shelters are heated and the animals are kept as comfortable as possible, but there’s no substitute for the super-sized body heat of a human mom or dad.

One such shelter, PAWS Chicago, is presenting a new program called the “12 Strays of Christmas.” It started December 13 and runs through Christmas Eve (December 24).

PAWS lined up some local celebrity volunteers to help adopt homeless dogs and cats to new families this holiday season. Among those volunteers are: Tom Dart, Cook County Sheriff; Jesse White, IL Secretary of State; Robert Sherman, president of Serta International; Suzanne Le Mignot, CBS 2; LeeAnn Trotter, NBC 5; Roz Varon, ABC 7; Anna Davlantes, Fox 32 and Michael Sneed, Chicago Sun-Times.

If your family has been considering a new pet, visit the PAWS Web site to view some of the dogs and cats who are waiting for a home where they can be a cave pet. You may also call 773-935-PAWS for more information.