Wordless Wednesday - Putting the bitey on that darn mouse

Toesday with Gandalf

Gandalf is not a fan of sitting still, nor is he a fan of keeping his paws in one place.  This is just three out of a huge number of out of focus photos in my attempt to share his feets with you. He's such a silly boy.

Mr. Mustache's Monday Morning

Gandalf is still doing well. He has his finicky days when he won't eat anything I give him, and then he eats everything. It isn't a matter of the food because some food which was horrid one day is awesome the next. He still sounds like he has some post nasal drip or something going on as well. No idea if any of this matters in his upcoming surgery, but the vets will do a full exam on him prior to his appointment and they will decide if it is safe or not.

I did take a stool sample in on Friday and he had his first clear results since we started testing him for lungworm which is a positive thing. I will take another sample in on Wednesday so they can test that as well.

He is getting so bored in that room. He wants so much more, and I can't blame him, he's a growing boy and that room is designed for kittens younger than he is. I'm glad he will have another cat at his new home which will keep him entertained - hopefully, his new brother will like him and keep him in line.

Blog the Change for Animals - Getting the word out and letting it spread

September of last year, Lisa of A Tonk's Tail, who works at Hallmark stumbled upon the results of a study on the type of content people enjoyed and trusted the most when online.

Turns out we all love funny videos. But ranked #2 are the "cause" videos: those touching, thoughtful ones that tug at your heart, that rally like-minded people who believe in - well, a cause. I'd been working on a ton of video projects for work. And they were looking for more ideas. More ways to get the word out, to build awareness about Hallmark and our products.

I'd already been jokingly labeled as "the one who will put a cat in any video she can." (Uhm, gee, I wonder why... Hey, I managed to place cats in at least 6 of them!)

So I asked The Question:

"We have this amazing partnership with Best Friends Animal Society to help find loving homes for shelter pets. One that is connected to our plush dog named Jingle, a homeless dog who found his boy. What if we reached out to people and asked them to share with us what their hopes and dreams are for the future of companion animals? What if that became a video?"

I love it when my vocation and my avocation - my passion for helping homeless animals - align."

She put forth the idea of creating a video about what pet people want and wish for in terms of animal welfare. A lot of people who heard about her idea wanted to contribute, as did I.

I sent in a few short videos of what I wished for in terms of cat care, that cats are no longer disposable, that they all find homes, and as a throw away - because the kitten I was fostering was sitting on Happy Bear - I recorded that I wished every cat could have their own Happy Bear.

Almost fifty people joined in wanting to help and twenty people from all over the US and as far away as New Zealand sent in content. They set in text, audio recordings, photos and videos. The people featured in the video are bloggers, shelter volunteers, foster moms, shelter staff, animal transport network workers, police officers, musicians, artists and even a radio personality in Las Vegas.

Lisa and her team worked long and hard with Hallmark and partnered with Best Friends to get this video made. There was about 20 GB of content to sift through and work into a single coheasive message that would be sharable. I think Lisa and her team did an amazing job getting this together. Sadly it wasn't released to the public until the 15th of December, which in the world of retail is the start of Valetine's Day season and it didn't make sense for Hallmark to promote it. See Hallmark did a tie in with their two well known animal mascotts Jingle® and Bell® which are seasoal products. Fortunately they have been around for a few years, and they'll be back next year, so the video will have another life next year, but in the mean time there is no reason we - as animal lovers - can't promote the living daylights out of this thing. Getting the message out in a friendly happy way (and not like those horrid channel changing Sarah Mclaughlin type of videos)

I am so glad that Hallmark decided to get behind this and I am so proud to have been a small part of it. I want everyone to see it. I want it to go from the third fastest orgainically shared video to Hallmark's #1 video.  So watch, share, spread the word.. and hopefully more companies will step and and pick up the mantle of animal welfare and pet adoption and get the word out to even more people.

#TBT Ollie in a hot wood sauna

Winter has hit hard here finally, and I have been so cold these past few days that I have made it a point to sit in my sauna and warm up.  Doing so always reminds me of my Ollie, who absolutely loved sitting in my sauna with me.

~originally shared April 2010