Cat Ladies In The News

Vote for Billy! Cat Lady Rose (aka Cat Lady No.338 ) has entered a handsome photo of Terrific Tabby Billy in The Humane Society's Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest. Billy says: "I need your vote to help me win some cool prizes -- and raise critical funds for spaying and neutering to control pet overpopulation. Go here to vote for me by making a small donation to my sponsored charity!"

[Editor's note: As a non-partisan pet lover, I offer equal time for any other candidates. Enter your photo in the Spay Day Online Pet Photo Contest today, then drop me a line!]

Cat Lady Karen (aka Cat Lady No.256)has 10 Tips for Emergency Pet Preparedness on her Cat's Meow blog. Being prepared for an emergency has been on all of our minds lately, and she has some great tips for keeping pets safe during a flood, fire, or earthquake, plus ideas on making it easier to re-unite with your pet if you become separated. Thanks, Karen!

Do you have Animal Magnetism? You definitely will if you are the lucky winner in Cat Lady Ingrid's book giveaway at her blog The Conscious Cat. The deadline is Sunday, January 24.

Attention Cat Ladies and Lads! Do you have news to share? Send it to art@undertheoaks.net with "365 Cat Lady News" in the subject line.

Meet Cat Lady Marie...Crazy For Calicoes

Meet Cat Lady Marie who just happens to be the baby sister of Crazy Cat Lady Carm (aka Cat Lady No. 217), who tells her story:

"Marie has a love for calico girls! There's just something about a calico kitty's "tortitude" that really makes her smile. So whenn Marie's children Danielle and Brian wanted a pet that was more than a hamster they thought about a kitten...

"Her friend Betsy's barncat had a litter in the spring of 1998. They all fell in love with and adopted the tiny tortoiseshell calico girl they called Cali. The next spring of 1999 Momma Barncat had yet another litter which produced a dilute calico girl with white who joined the family and was named Dusty Rose."

In the mean time, sister Carm had fallen in love with the Maine Coon breed and in the fall of 2001 she took Marie along for the ride on one of her visits to Chadwickoon Maine Coon Cats. Marie saw a brown-patched-with-white mackerel tabby girl and it was love at first sight! She suggested that Eileen (the breeder) should name the kitten Marie. "On the ride home she knew she had to have her little namesake... So she adopted Chadwickoon Sweet Marie a couple months later."

Carm continues the story: "Marie still longed for a true calico Maine Coon girl and asked me to find one that was predominately white with the black and red markings. By then I had LOTS of Maine Coon PURRson friends and one of them told me about a cattery in Eastern Pennsylvania who had such a girl. Emails and telephone calls were exchanged and one weekend in October of 2003 we made our way from Buffalo (driven by Marie's feline fella Bill), NY to Boothwyn, PA, to pick up McKimmey Emily- 7 hours to get there...and 7 hours home!"

"Cali is now 11 years old. Sadly, Dusty Rose lived to be only 6 when she went to the rainbow bridge. Marie is 8 and Emily is 6. Marie and Emily are enormous (not overweight--just BIG) Maine Coon girls each tipping the scales at approximately 20 pounds. Their veterinarian and their groomer both say they have never seen such big calicoes!"

Are you Crazy about Calicoes? [I looked it up--the spelling "calicos" is also acceptable!] Tell us about your tri-color kitties in the Comments section of this post. Thanks for visiting!

Crazy Cat Lady Club Creed

Welcome new members!

The Card-Carrying Crazy Cat Lady Creed

...I promise to love, cherish and honor my feline friends through sickness and health, for richer or poorer, whether purebred or stray, domestic or feral, exotic or just darned cute as the dickens.

...I will come to the aid and assistance of fellow crazy cat ladies in times of need including but not limited to: kibble shortages, catnip-mice-under-the-fridge events, and the classic cat-stuck-in-a-treetop emergency.

...I fully understand the intoxicating lure of catnip, and the associated dangers that its consumption poses to houseplants and ankles, and will administer said substance responsibly and with close supervision.

...I will always spay or neuter responsibly and do everything within my power to reduce pet overpopulation and needless euthanasia.

...I will not hoard, collect, or otherwise take in more cats or kittens than I can provide a clean, loving, and healthy environment for.

...If choosing a purebred cat of a specific breed, I will first consider adopting a homeless purebred cat from a shelter or rescue organization.

...If able to, I will always give generously to animal shelters and rescue organizations either by volunteering and/or through financial gifts.


Each new member of the CCCCLC will receive a full color copy of the club's Official Creed, suitable for framing! Click here for more information: CCCCLC Kit

How Do You Say "Cat Lady" in Polish?

Cat Lady Marta's website "Chabrowa Legenda" (in Polish) is all about the beautiful and rare cat breed the Chartreux.

The Chartreux are similar to the British Blue Shorthair (like our friends Wendell and William). The name of Marta's website "Chabrowa Legenda" means "Cornflower Legend" and refers to the beautiful blue color of the lush fur of these cats.

According to the Cat Fancier's Association, "There exists a lovely old legend that the Chartreux lived with, and were named for, the Carthusian monks of France, and perhaps even shared a tipple or two of their famous Chartreuse liqueur! Recent research, however, indicates that because of the woolly character of their fur, they were given the same name as a well known Spanish wool of the early 18th century. Since this method of naming is common in animal husbandry, it is very likely the truth."

Oh, by the way, Marta tells us that "cat lady" in Polish is "kicia mama"!

Thanks for visiting!

Mystery Cat Lady Unveiled

At long last the identity of our Mystery Cat Lady can be revealed. Of the many theories and guesses that were put forth, it was Cat Lady Teri (aka No. 279) who came up with the answer that was closest to the truth:

"She is the 'Crazy Cat Lady' inside all of us...we don't all have the same hair, so there are many representations of us. As CCL's, we spend large amounts of hours at the shelter. The CCL inside of us would not leave a pregnant beauty to deliver at the shelter, so we brought her home. Now we all have homes full of life and color!"


Meet Kittie B. Wilderd, who is a card-carrying Crazy Cat Lady and represents all of us who just can't resist a whiskered face and a sweet meow. She carries her I.D. card wherever she goes to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is a "Class A Feline Fanatic."

You too can become a member of the Card-Carrying Crazy Cat Lady Club. With the purchase of The Crazy Cat Lady Kit, you will receive the following:

♥ A credit-card-sized I.D. card that will be personalized with your name (or the name of a loved one), city and state, and your choice of hair color and complexion.

♥ An exclusive members-only "Card-Carrying Crazy Cat Lady" pinback button. Wear this 2-1/4" laminated button with pride wherever you go.

♥ The Official Card-Carrying Crazy Cat Lady Club GUIDELINES--an 8.5 x 11" high-quality full color print suitable for framing.

♥ The Official Card-Carrying Crazy Cat Lady Club CREED--an 8.5 x 11" high-quality full color print, suitable for framing.

♥♥♥ With the purchase of each kit, $1.00 will be donated to the Oregon Humane Society.

Be the first on your block to join! For complete details, visit this link: Crazy Cat Lady Kit

Thanks for visiting!

Giveaway Winner Announcement...Drumroll Please...

Each entry in the 365 Cat Ladies Giveaway for January was assigned a number and a random number generator was employed. The number 5 was chosen, which just happens to be Cat Lady Carm! Congratulations!

She will be receiving a set of 3 ceramic tile coasters from my Cafepress shop, pictured below.

Thank you to everybody who participated!!

Giveaway Ends Sunday Night!

Just who is this woman and where did all of these kittens come from? And why does she have so many different hair colors?

Las794 surmises: They're actually pictures of cat-lady quintuplets, four of whom dye their hair to differentiate themselves. But because they're quints, they can't resist imitating each another in other ways, so when one adopts a cat, the others adopt an identical one. Hey, maybe the cats are quints, too! :)

Cat Lady Chris has a good theory on my Facebook Page: This woman's name is Seasons. She changes her hair color for each season of the year and since she has five cats she added one more season (and hair color) to her year to celebrate her cats.

Susan has a good idea: She's holding so many kitties because there are so many of them in shelters looking for their forever homes and she wants to show us some of them. She keeps changing her hair color because it's fun to try new looks!

It's not too late to come up with your own theory. Read all of the entries and find details on how to enter the giveaway, visit this link: 365 Cat Ladies Giveaway for January