Please Help Pepper Win! :)

Happy Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month! Pepper, a youthful and loveable 15-year old PAWS kitty, is a finalist in the "Best Picture" category for "The Whisker Awards" on Petfinder.com! :) Will you please help us by voting for her?

Pepper's is the sixth photo on "Best Picture" ballot. :) This spicy girl may officially be a “senior,” but she acts and looks much younger! Pepper still has a lot of life in her, and lots of love to give, so we'd really like to get her the increased visibility (hopefully en route to a forever home!) with a win in the contest. Our shelter will also win some cool “Hide, Perch & Go” boxes if Pepper receives the most votes.

Please vote for Pepper daily (voting runs today through June 21), and ask everyone you know to do the same. And if you are so inclined, please share about her on your blog.

Thank you! :)

A Really Beautiful Award :)

A few weeks ago, our friends at Tekorin the Neko gave us a really cool "Beautiful Blogger" award. Thank you to Tekorin, Beat Sensei and Ku-suke Chan, and their mommy ... we are truly honored! Volunteering at PAWS is incredibly rewarding for us, and we love sharing with all of you about our cat friends who live there. So to receive an award for this is, well ... beautiful. :)

The rules for the award say we're supposed to share seven things about ourselves. But since this is a blog about the cats at PAWS, we'll include some things about them, too! Here we go...

1. Tracey (aka "PAWSvolunteer") and Kevin (aka "meowmeowmans") used to work at the same company many years ago. Our paths crossed again when Tracey began volunteering at PAWS about seven years ago (I had already been volunteering for a number of years). To make a long story short, love blossomed. We are now happily married and still volunteer together every weekend. :)

2. Some of our very best human friends are fellow PAWS volunteers.

3. Growing up, all of our families' pets were rescues, or came from shelters.

4. Our furry kids are Sammy, Moosey and Maggie (that's them in our blog header!).

5. Our angel cats -- Bitsy, Graphite and Lady Madonna -- were all adopted from shelters.

6. PAWS cats Gadget, Claire, Chyna (who, unfortunately was returned to PAWS through no fault of her own), Minnie, Sweetheart, and Shaq are all lapcats.

7. PAWS cats Pip and Jasmine love to have their tummies rubbed. :)

We're supposed to give this award to seven other bloggers, but we're going to "color outside the lines" this time, and give this award to ALL of our blogging friends. After all, we think you're ALL beautiful!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Jasmine

Silly and sweet Jasmine will pose for love and a forever home. :)

Really Thankful Thursday

We really love being bearers of good news. After all, what’s not to love about sharing exciting adoption news, and passing along happy tales from the families of PAWS “graduates?” :)

Those of you who’ve been following our blog for a while may remember Nemo, the cute, energetic orange and white tabby with the neurological disorder and wobbly gait. Well, after more than a year of waiting, Nemo has found the perfect home! His new humans say "... he's doing great. There was no adjustment necessary. Nemo walked all over the apartment and just settled right in. He sleeps on our bed at night.” Hooray for Nemo!

Here are some more “feel good” follow-up stories:

“Frenchie is doing great! She's actually sleeping on the couch next to me right now, and took no time at all to get comfortable with us. She still gets scared with new people, but when it's just us, she rules the house. She loves sitting with us, getting lots of attention, playing and running around the house. Her latest ‘thing’ is sitting in front of the glass doors to our back yard, and watching the birds fly around.”

“We adopted Hassie about a year ago, and she is perfect. We love her so much, and she has been a great addition to our family. Without your help, we wouldn't have had all of the good times that Hassie has brought us. She still loves to play with her hand toy that has all of the strings attached. We give her a little treat of salmon once in a while and she LOVES it! Thank you so much for bringing her into our lives and keeping her happy while she was at PAWS.”

After a few weeks of adjustment, say Murray’s forever people, he really came around. Now that he’s used to his new home, this handsome boy, “… sleeps with us, and licks our ears in the middle of the night. He is incredibly sweet … just a doll of a cat.”

“Carrie is fantastic! She is totally happy with us, and we are totally happy with her. She settled in immediately and became the alpha cat, something our other cat seems fine with.”

“Olivia is doing beautifully. After a bit of hissing, she and our other cat are getting along fine. Olivia is a really sweet kitty, and loves to be petted. We really love her and think she is perfect!”

Ishma's people say that, "Ishma is living the good life," and sent us the picture below to prove it! :)

And if you need some MORE reasons to smile, the following kitties were also adopted since our last adoption update: Apollo and Lindsey, Bode, Derek and Andy, Jax, Jenny, Juno, Mischief, Peppermint Patty and Sally, Pete, Sashimi, Sassafras, Schroeder, Shaun, Shirley, Snoopy, Tina, Timmy, Tommy, and Twitter.

Enjoy your forever homes, kitty friends. We love you! :)

Thursday Fun on Friday

Yes, you read that title correctly! Here’s our pal Thursday, who looks as if she just heard a great joke (probably from her roommate Tally … you’d never know it, but he’s quite the joker).

Thursday was brought to PAWS after she was found living on the streets. As you might imagine, she can be a little cautious around people, but she's making incredible progress with the ones she knows, and now loves things like petting, curling up on a nice warm lap, playing with little toy mice, and lounging in a nice sunbeam. She's quite a champion purrer, too!

This one year-old is extremely gentle and very sweet, and we know she would do especially well in a quieter home. If you have other cats, it's not a problem for little Miss Thursday ... she LOVES the company of other kitties (she's not fond of doggies, though). Thursday, like all of the animals at PAWS, is fixed and current on all her vaccinations. She has tested negative for FIV and FeLV.

Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

PAWS Contest: Best cat to talk with...

I mentioned to Kevin this past weekend that it would be really cool to have periodic "contests" amongst the PAWS kitties, in CATegories like "Best cat to talk with" and "Cat who gives the best lap." All of the cat volunteers could nominate, and vote for, their favorites. Who knows? If these contests catch on, we could advertise the winners during adoption hours - when folks are filling out paperwork and waiting to meet with an adoption counselor about the kitties. (:

Well, we're going to give this idea a shot starting today. Our inaugural contest is in the CATegory of "Best cat to talk with."

And the winner is -- in a very close race -- Gadget! In addition to his superior conversation skills, this sweet boy is incredibly smart (he never, ever falls twice for the same "getting him back in his cage" trick), loves a good lap and a good brushing, and REALLY likes the company of his human buddies!

And who was the runner up in this CATegory? That would be Kiki, an adorable Bengal boy who is quick to let us know (in a not-so-subtle way!) when he'd like some "out time" (or wet food).

This super sweet and handsome guy ended up at PAWS when his owner became ill and could no longer care for Kiki and his many cat and dog siblings. A very friendly lap cat, he likes being held and pet all over. We've also been told he likes to play with laser lights, and that he'll crawl under the covers at bedtime for a snuggle.

Congratulations to Gadget and Kiki ... you're both winners in our eyes. Keep on talking, and we'll keep searching for your forever homes!

Four on Friday

Here are four PAWS residents, captured in one click of the camera...

Sweet Ishma (farthest from the camera) was adopted last week, but our buddies Eden (up top, in the front, performing the tail hangover maneuver), Bootz (profiling, with his paw hanging off of the chair) and Max (curled up, and getting the full sun spa treatment) are all still waiting for their forever homes. Of course, until they find them, we'll be sure to give these boys lots and lots of love. :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!