thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog

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Saying Farewell To A Pretty Shitty 2018

As 2018 nears its end I can't help but breath a sigh of relief. It’s been a doozy of a year, and I'm finding more and more people are also sharing in a run of bad luck this past twelve months. 2019 is going to be our year readers, I can feel it (I say over and over again while rocking back and forth)! 

I've somehow managed to survive another rough patch, which is one of the main reasons I haven't been able to blog in a while. Struggling with depression and anxiety, while navigating through life's testing periods can make these hard times seem never-ending. Maybe they never will. Maybe it's just a case of becoming stronger, thicker skinned and learning to embrace them, as, without these sort of negative events, we wouldn’t appreciate the good times as much. 

Since my last blog a lot has changed. 

Captain is still my rock and she is still loving being an only cat. She has always been a princess at heart and is loving growing gracefully older and enjoying her moments of lazy solitude while I'm at work and then spending hours playing with her favourite bit of string. 

Not long after my last blog, I was headhunted for an ideal new job role which was to be an exciting and well-paid opportunity I couldn't turn down. It all seemed too good to be true, but with my growing dislike for my old job, I snapped up the chance to be an assistant HR manager with a brand new company. I worked for this company for six weeks and still haven't been paid to this day. It turned out to be a big scam and the director had run this sort of con many times over in the past. He set up a legitimate business model, using a fake name and borrowed thousands off hard-working, self-employed people, with absolutely no intention of repaying his debts. He then fled with all the profits, leaving around fifty of us penniless. 

A week after not going into work because I simply couldn't afford to get there, I started looking for another job. It was a month before Christmas and I was already six weeks into a financial debt hole, I knew I had to give it up and find something else. My Grandparents have been a godsend during this whole catalogue of disasters. They have helped me enormously financially and have been there for me to just cry down the phone and winge. I was very lucky when I started my manic job hunt as I managed to secure another temporary role in a call centre to get me through the next few months. There is an opportunity to be made a permanent member of staff in February, otherwise, I will be back to being unemployed. I know I have been very lucky getting any sort of job to close to Christmas. There are still people I worked with at that company who haven't yet managed to secure employment. The director of the company is still at large, which makes the entire thing all the more frustrating as it seems like he will get away with it again.

My mum and her husband are also in the process of getting divorced. Thank god. He wasn’t quite the recovered alcoholic he lead everyone to believe, but the less said about that whole saga the better. The amount of stress that relationship created in our lives is astounding and I can’t wait for them to have no more ties and be completely out of our lives for good. 

Despite these bumps in the road, I feel as though I have come out fighting. My New Years resolution is to begin blogging regularly again. I've let myself get bogged down by a string of shitty incidents which resulted in me wanting to just curl up in bed all day with Captain. It's made me temporarily lose my sense of fun and doing what I enjoy. My financial struggles have become a real problem in terms of getting the website finished. Now that I have a temporary job, I can begin to finish off paying my new designer to complete the website so this project can be eventually finished and to create a haven for cat ladies and men alike to spoil their fur babies with tried and tested toys.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a prosperous, happy New Year readers. Sending love and kisses, as always,

          The Cat Lady

xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

An Exciting Announcement

Hope you readers have been enjoying this glorious British sunshine over the past few weeks. I must admit that is one of the reasons for my recent blogging hiatus. That and all the time I’ve spent recently finishing off some of the last little bits and bobs for the website. I also have an exciting announcement: I have officially paid my new web designer the deposit payment to begin putting the final touches on the long-awaited website! Hopefully *touch wood* by Autumn it should be completely live! In the run-up to the grand opening, each week, I will be posting previous reviews of all the ‘purrfect’ items, paw-tested by my beautiful five kitty-cats, to remind you what will be available for your perusal.

I���m sure you’re all curious to hear how Belleville got on since my last blog. After the initial period of her strange ‘tail-attacking’ episodes, she appeared to be losing all interest in her scary new habit. Unfortunately, this honeymoon period didn’t last long, and despite being wormed and flea’d, as regularly as was required, she soon resumed attacking her poor, defenceless tail. After a solid week of having to distract her whenever she was awake (meaning I was getting very little sleep), still trying to work my normal 9am-5pm job and slowly getting more and more stressed, I had to call in the big guns. My mum.

One night, feeling particularly exhausted, trying to go to sleep while listening to Belleville get herself more and more worked up, I gave in and called my mum. She could hear the tiredness in my voice and jumped straight into a taxi to take Belleville back home with her, so she could spend more time calming Belleville down and give me the chance to get some well-needed rest.

After my first full night’s sleep in nearly a week, I called my mum as soon as I woke up to see how Belleville was doing. Bizarrely, Belleville had been relaxed and content as soon as she jumped out of her carrier in her old home. I worried that it might just be temporary, as it had been with me after her visits to the vets, but luckily *touch wood again*, she has returned to her usual, happy self. I think she may not have adjusted to the move as well as I thought, and she might have been lonely in a house with only Captain, after living in a house with four other cats and having someone home at all times to play with. It makes sense to keep her there as that’s where she’s most happy, even if I do miss her daily cuddles.

Having one cat drama seemingly end, my worries turned back to Captain. I was full of doubt that she would be happy by herself and she might get lonely while I’m at work, but Captain seems to be loving life being an only cat once more. We have developed a lovely, new routine where she wakes up with me on a morning, trots through to the kitchen for breakfast, and then goes back to bed while I get ready for work. She truly lives the life of Riley. Once I am back home after Captain is fed, I have my own tea and then we spend a good hour playing until she’s so tired she sleeps once more.

I’m hoping this will be the end of the kitty drama’s so our full attention can be on the unveiling of the new website and the next step in Calico Captain Cat’s journey. As always, I hope you have a lovely week ahead. Sending love and kisses,

                                  The Cat Lady

                                                     xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

Belleville & Her Terrifying Tail

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at Calico Captain Cat HQ. Sadly, over the past few months, my web designer has slowly gone AWOL – not returning any emails, calls or texts – so I made the decision to hunt down a new designer to help finish the long-awaited website. I never expected when I began this journey, that I would be two years down the line without the website being up and running, so I do apologise for the delay – hopefully, it’ll be well worth the wait.

I asked around for some recommendations and one particular name kept coming up, so I got in touch with her and we instantly clicked as she too gets frustrated when web designers stop replying as she feels it gives all web designers a bad name. She also explained that although she was happy to help, she won’t be free for another couple of months. Frankly, after two unreliable designers, I am happy to wait for someone who is dependable, and it also gives me a chance to continue growing my social media presence in the lead-up. I’m due to have a call with her to go over exactly what else needs to be done and get it looking spick and span ready for the launch.

There have also been some developments where Belleville is concerned. A few weeks ago, on a rainy Sunday, we were sitting in the living room relaxing when Belleville started aggressively attacking her tail. I know it might sound funny, but she wasn’t just playing – she was terrified of her tail and saw it as the ultimate threat to her life. Luckily, since Captain’s operation, her overall demeanour has been calm and loving (no more moody hissing or throwing the odd punch), so she came rushing over to try and help. Sadly, even after 5 mins of distracting and petting her, Belleville caught sight of her tail out of the corner of her eye and began attacking it all over again.

I called the vets who advised the best thing would be to take her in to be checked out – but my usual vets had no appointments left for that day. I called a few other local vets and found one that was open. When I got there the vet inspected her thoroughly and noticed she had caught her tail. She administered a pain shot in case she was attacking her tail because of the pain she had already caused herself. The vet also recommended some calming spray called Pet Remedy which I bought as I was willing to try anything at this point. I left feeling a little deflated as the vet couldn’t actually explain what was causing the issue, she simply said to keep an eye on her and bring her in if it happened again. She also recommended getting Belleville spayed in case she was feeling stressed by being on heat.

Back at home, the calming spray definitely had an effect on both kitties – they were too relaxed to even play together and lounged around sleeping for the rest of the day. Belleville was just happy to be back at home and not in her evil cat carrier being poked and prodded by a stranger. The next day, she was still nervous of her tail, but I was so worried she would attack herself again that I just kept distracting her and playing with her until she fell asleep. As I work full time, leaving her alone for eight hours a day was awful, I spent all day worrying that she might have seriously hurt herself by the time I got her home.

After a few days, Belleville was still anxious about her tail, so I made an appointment with our usual vets to get her spayed to hopefully calm her down. I was feeling a lot more confident this time as Captain had no issues, her hormonal PMS mood swings have completely gone and she’s behaving so much better than before – she seems back to her normal happy self. Unfortunately, they had no appointments for the next week, so I had the longest and most stressful week working all day and worrying about her non-stop. Then on an evening staying up late and waking in the middle of the night just to distract her from her terrifying tail.

Finally, operation day arrived, and I took her in where the lovely vet listened patiently to my concerns and advised they would check out her tail while Belleville was under anaesthetic. I called back at around lunchtime to check on her and the vet said she had already woken up from her operation and was ready to come home within the hour. She also advised that she administered a worming tablet in case that was causing the issue and gave me another one to give to Captain when I got home.

It’s been four days since operation day and Captain and I have been pampering the brave patient non-stop. *Touch wood* there hasn’t been many more episodes of Belleville’s tail attacks, and she does seem a lot more relaxed and less wound up. I have kept spraying the Pet Remedy around hers and Captains sleeping spots, letting Belleville get some well needed R&R recover while she gets her strength back. Only time will tell if this has solved our latest kitty problems, but I will keep you all posted on how we get on.

As always, wishing you all a lovely week ahead. With love and kisses,

                  The Cat Lady

                             xxx

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Captain & Belleville, Reunited.

Since my last blog, Captain has continued to make a quick and full recovery after I made the decision to have her spayed. She has been a lot clingier than before, but overall, she seems much happier and has her kitten-like playfulness back. As she seemed a lot less hormonal, I thought it would be a good idea to try and reintroduce Belleville back in mine and Captain’s flat. Belleville and Captain have always had a close, mother/daughter relationship, and I felt enough time had passed, since their last disagreement, which had turned into a nasty catfight, to ensure minimal tension.

As I’m sure you all know by now, I am a born worrier. As soon as I had made the decision to bring Belleville back, I was worried it would all go wrong, and they would just pick up where they left off during their last fight, instead of kissing and making up as I hoped. I arranged for my mum to bring her round one weekend day so we could see how they would take being in the same room together again, and it meant I would have two days away from work where I could help Belleville adjusting to her new surroundings.

We thought it best, and safest for them to see each other while Belleville stayed in her cat carrier. This way we could assess their reactions and go from there while keeping both cats safe. As soon as Captain saw the cat carrier, she immediately got defensive, bushed up her tail and started hissing. Belleville was totally relaxed in her cat carrier and looked more bored than anything. Mum and I pretended to ignore them while they sniffed each other through plastic walls. Captain was mainly establishing her dominance and showing she was Queen Bee. Belleville politely accepted the hissing she was subjected to, waiting to be able to get out and play with the many cat toys thrown around the flat.

After a while, Captain appeared to get bored of her ‘sniffing and hissing at the cat carrier’ game and came over for cuddles. We thought this would be the best time to open the door to the carrier, hoping for the best but expecting the worst. As Belleville started to walk through the flap, Captain rushed over and I thought our plan was about to be a huge flop. Luckily, I was completely wrong. They began kissing each other’s noses and licking each other’s faces. I think Captain had really missed having a partner in crime and all their previous animosity had all been forgotten.  

Since then they haven’t been apart, spending their days sleeping together, grooming each other and running the entire length of my flat when I decide it’s time for me to go to bed. I’ve seen such a positive change in Captain since I decided to have her neutered, that I think I will arrange for Belleville to have the same procedure within the next few months. This thought was solidified when I spent a week off work not being able to have one lie in as Belleville had gone into heat. As I no longer have that issue with Captain, I had completely forgotten how frustrating it is to have a cat on heat, and how frustrating it must be for the cat themselves!

Although Captain and Belleville seem to have instantly bonded, I have made the decision to keep Benito at my mum’s house with the other boy cats. I feel like three cats in one flat would be too much and is probably what started their arguing in the first place. Luckily, as my mum's house is around the corner from me, it means I can go and visit the boys and play with them any time I want. I think Benito is a lot happier being there as he is very close to both Barbossa and The Great Catsby.

Sadly, another month goes by with no live website yet to show you all. This is due to a breakdown in communication with my web designer, who unfortunately hasn’t been as responsive as I had hoped when I originally decided to go with them in the beginning. I am on the lookout to hire someone new to finish the hard work that has been put into this project, and until then I can’t say when the website itself will be live. In the meantime, I will continue to review products and blog, and I am also looking into other ways of being able to provide you all with a way to pamper your kitties with all the fantastic items available from Calico Captain Cat!

As always, I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead.

Sending love and kisses,

                             The Cat Lady

                                             xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

Captain’s Recovery

This past week, Captain has been at the vets where she was neutered. As you are all, probably, more than aware, I had put this off for many years due to an unfortunate incident last time I arranged for this procedure on another female cat I had when I was a lot younger. Coupled with my anxiety meant that on the dreaded Tuesday morning taking her in, I was a nervous wreck. Captain hated every minute, beginning when I plucked her out of her plush, pink bed (on top of the electric blanket) right through to getting her back home again on the afternoon, drunk from all the drugs they’d pumped her full of. If I know my Captain, I would say the most traumatic thing about this whole experience was not being able to eat after 6pm the night before!

I felt so guilty when I woke up on the dreaded morning, before taking her on a perilous journey (in the snow, I might add!) to our local vet’s office. She got up with me as usual, expecting me to open her wet food pouch as she trotted and meowed next to me. She looked a little baffled when I said no and then frustrated when she realised her dry food bowl and water was missing as well. As soon as 9am rolled around, I had dug out her cat carrier and put in her new favourite blanket and decided on a day like today, she needed Nelly – her catnip filled elephant. 

We got in the taxi and at this point, she was not happy at all. Her eyes were wide saucers and she yowled the whole way. I got her into the vet’s office, where a giant, chocolate Labrador greeted her with a very loud bark. The chocolate lab also gave a farewell bark as he dragged their owner out the door and left me and a very shook up Captain alone in the office. One of the lovely veterinary ladies came out and cooed over Captains pretty calico markings when I noticed she suddenly looked tiny. My usual confident lioness was nowhere to be seen and had been replaced by a terrified, tiny kitten.

The vet printed out the terrifying consent form as she went over her very well-rehearsed speech that ‘all operations come with a certain amount of risk...’ and I must have taken at least five minutes combing over every single word before I finally took the plunge and signed it. She advised that I could ring up at 1pm and she should be well enough to come home by 2pm. Then the most heartbreaking sight of the whole morning was the vet picking up the carrier and taking my fur baby through to the back as she stared at me with the biggest and gloomiest eyes I have ever seen.

Once I got home, the sight of the confusion and plight in her eyes was enough to bring me to tears. After I calmed down, I realised that I had killed an hour and a half. I am not one to wish away my time, especially when that time is time not spent at work, but I was now faced with two and a half hours to burn through before I could call and check up on Captain. I killed another hour by furiously cleaning my kitchen and washing every item in my huge laundry pile. Then I watched an episode of game of thrones, paying no attention to the violent gore, just thinking about Captain and what I would do without her and why I thought this was a good idea and then finally, it was time for me to call up and check on her.

My adrenaline was at an all-time high as the phone rang and rang and then eventually I got through to the vet who said everything went fine, I now just needed to wait for her to wake up. She still wasn’t ready to come home, but I had the best news that she was absolutely fine. The vet advised to call back in an hour to see if she was awake, so I was tasked with killing a whole new hour.

After cleaning my bedroom from top to bottom, it was time to call up the vet’s office again. Unfortunately, she still wasn’t awake, so the vet advised calling back in TWO hours to make sure she was awake and well enough to come home! Of course, this meant I started panicking thinking how awful it would be if she had to spend the night in a strange place, with unfamiliar smells and noises and how she might be cold and scared. I realised that cleaning wasn’t going to help pass the hours this time, so I decided to go out shopping on a special ‘pamper Captain’ mission. This included spending a good twenty minutes deciding on all the different Sheba flavours she might enjoy over the next few days and even getting her some of the new deli Dreamies treats. I trudged home with nothing but Captains well being on my mind and then digging through my treasure trove of cat toys to get her some new Danish Design catnip toys she loves so much, for when she was feeling up to playing.

When it was finally time to call the vets office, seven hours after I had initially brought her in, she was given the all clear to come home! I raced over and collected her, promising her the pampering of her life. I had the heating on for her, in case she got cold because of her lack of fur on one side, so when we came back in from the cold vet’s office and then the colder, snowier outdoors, the warmth was like a hot wall when we crossed the doors. I unzipped the carrier and out she came, drunk and stumbling. I brought one of her Sheba trays into the front room and spooned it into her food bowl, expecting she would be starving after having no food for twenty-two hours. She took great delight in sniffing it and within five minutes, she fell asleep face down in her bowl.

I decided if she was that tired then I would be best to leave her. After half an hour, she migrated to underneath the coffee table where she could see me. This began to be a new habit of Captains, ever since her operation she hates being alone. I expect the shock of being taken out of her home and the ordeal of an operation, is to blame for this. Not that I mind, I like to pretend that I’m a female Dick Whittington and Captain would follow me where ever I go.

So far, it’s too early to tell what new personality traits, if any, her spaying will bring, but luckily, she is on the mend and almost back to her bossy, playful self. As always, I wish you a lovely week ahead!

With love and kisses,

               The Cat Lady

                              xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

New Year, New Captain.

Well, readers, I know it’s been forever and a day since my last blog, so I wanted to get you all up to speed on the latest happenings at Calico Captain Cat HQ.

In my previous blog, I wrote about the clowders first home move – if you can’t remember, I brought Captain, Belleville and Benito with me to my very first flat. After the first couple of months of happy new home life, sadly, the change in dynamics proved too difficult for Captain. I was sitting in my brand-new living room, wrapping Christmas pressies for my loved ones when one particular rustle of tissue paper gave Captain the fright of her life! Her automatic response was to attack the nearest thing to her which happened to be poor Benito!

Benito being the friendliest and most loving animal in the world had no idea what he had done and why he was the butt of this awful reaction. Straight away I dived in and separated Captain from the terrified Benito and baffled Belleville who had also got involved.

In our old house, Captain had a slight tendency to go for Barbossa if she was feeling hormonal or if he got too close to her food bowl at tea time, but baby Benito had never been on the receiving end before, so he was visibly distraught.

After a few days of keeping them separated, I tried to reintroduce them all – hoping everything would have calmed down. Sadly, Captain was in no forgiving mood, and her temper was still as bad as before. I repeated this process of separating them for a couple of days then trying to reintroduce them, a couple of times, but each time after a few makeup kisses on the nose, Captain would get a fright over the smallest thing and poor Benito would face the backlash. Eventually, I had to make the hard decision to move Belleville and Benito back to mum’s house with Barbossa and The Great Catsby until we came up with a new plan. The meant for the first time in five years, it was only me and Captain sharing a home.

During the first couple of days of Benito and Belleville's vacating the flat, I was hoping that I would see a glimmer of remorse from Captain. Whether it be her searching the rooms for her lost family or showing signs of boredom from having the whole place to herself all day while I was at work – but surprisingly (or not so surprisingly in hindsight) she was loving it. I suppose after rearing her own litter and then helping to raise the grand-kittens Belleville mothered, she was ready for retirement. I’ve also thought the possibility of never being neutered may be the reason for her temperamental nature.

After much consideration, I have finally decided to take the plunge, and arrange for this procedure to happen. As a reminder, I have put off this decision for many years due to a beautiful tabby cat I had the pleasure of knowing called Chocolat. Chocolat experienced complications during her operation which ultimately caused her very early death.

I have weighed the pros and cons and the pros of getting Captain spayed and the pros have greatly outweighed the conns:

               Pros:

1.       If having the procedure does calm her hormonal mood swings, it would mean I could bring Belleville and Benito back safely, knowing it would be back to a loving environment for them.

2.       I have also read up that it prevents a whole host of health complications such as uterine infections and breast tumours.

3.       It will stop her going into heat and the three days of yowling and shaking her bum, spraying on my laundry pile all because she is looking for a mate. We both have to endure this lovely period every few weeks.

               Cons:

1.       The worst could happen.

I know most people think that the above con is an overreaction, but as I’ve previously mentioned, the worst did happen and because of that, it will always make me over cautious. Captain has been my rock and my side-kick for five and a half years and I don’t want to jeopardise that in any way. I know it’s the best thing for her in the long term, but it doesn’t make me worry any less. I have taken the week off work so I can be her nurse, and she will have the pampering of her life while she adjusts to her new lease of life and healing after her operation.

I will let you all know how my beautiful angel gets on after her procedure this week, and as always, I hope you have a lovely week ahead!

               Much love,        

                               The Cat Lady      

                                                             xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

The Clowder’s First Home Move

Apologies for the unexpected hiatus, readers. After another slight health dip, I am eventually back on the mend. As I mentioned in a Facebook post, I have also moved to a new house! At the age of 26, I finally decided it was time to fly the nest and get my own place. I had been thinking about it for a while and began browsing the internet for something that would fit all my deciding criteria. Not long after my initial search, I hit the jackpot! I found a lovely little flat only a five-minute walk from my mums, and within my price range. I arranged a viewing and fell in love with it as I was exploring from room to room, already planning on where I would put all my furniture and wall prints. Once I had gone through all the necessary checks and paid my deposit, I was able to collect the keys. Sadly, this happened to fall within the peak of my latest affliction.

Just to give you an idea of what I was dealing with; after a week back at work, thinking I was back to normal, I noticed a pain in my tailbone when I was sitting down on Friday afternoon. This rapidly got worse, I could feel a large swelling and every time I had to move I was in agony. By the time it was Sunday, I was crying with the pain and called 111 who advised me to go straight to my local hospital. While there he identified that it was an abscess and prescribed antibiotics to kill the infection and reduce the swelling.

After a week, in worse pain than before, I went to my doctors who advised I would need to be admitted to a hospital to have surgery to lance it. After eight hours of waiting, I was finally taken into theatre and was given a general anaesthetic. Once I regained consciousness, I was still in so much pain that I was convinced I had somehow woken up in the middle of the procedure. During the surgery, after they drained the abscess, they then packed it with gauze so the wound would heal to avoid this happening again (I never want to suffer from this again!). They explained that a nurse would come out to my home every day to take the old packing out, and repack it to make sure it was healing properly. Because the pain was a huge factor, I was prescribed paracetamol, codeine and liquid morphine.

The next day, was quite possibly the worst experience of my entire life. The nurse arrived, as promised to change my dressing. She explained that as this was the first change after surgery, it wouldn’t be pleasant as the doctors tended to pack it very tightly while I was unconscious. She proceeded to remove 90cm of gauze which felt like barbed wire. I screamed the entire way through and had to have my legs held down by mum. At the sounds of my screams, all the cats expect Barbossa fled. Barbossa was horrified that I was obviously being tortured by this stranger and my mum wasn’t even helping, so on the bed, he jumped, sitting on my back yowling at the nurse. He was even more offended when we had to swat him down so the nurse could repack the wound which, again, I screamed and cried all the way through. Ever since then he has never left my side, especially when the nurse visits. Only two weeks after this ordeal was when I got my keys for my new home and was able to get packed up.

Trying to pack my life’s possessions and a hell of a lot of cat stock while recovering from surgery felt never-ending! It’s awful when your body won’t do what your mind thinks it’s still capable of. After five days, I had finally got everything boxed away and was ready for the big move. The most difficult part of the entire moving process was deciding which cats to bring with me. As Barbossa is my mum’s cat, the decision for him to stay was easy, but the remaining four cats are all mine and my new two-bedroom flat was to be a far cry from the three-bedroom house they were all used to. As they had gotten older, Barbossa and Captain seemed to be heading for divorce after a few too many slaps during feeding time so I wasn’t particularly worried about separating them. The fairest and least stressful way of separating them was to keep the cats who got along the most together. That meant I was going to have the two girls, Captain and Belleville and the boys would stay together at my mum's. During my bedbound phase of recovering, along with Barbossa, The Great Catsby wouldn’t leave my side so I was (and still am) devastated to leave him behind. He and Captain have had a bit of a love/hate relationship as my bed has always been her territory, so she would get peeved when he would come to check on me. Not forgetting Benito who is the cuddliest cat I’ve ever known. It wasn’t until the day before I was moving that I realised I couldn’t live without his cuddles. He’s such a happy cat that I knew it would help the two ladies adjust and settle in as well.

When it came considering which cats might need the most attention and help to settle in, I had Captain at the back of the list. She has such a bossy and fearless nature I thought she would love a brand-new environment to claim and explore, but sadly she was the one who took it the worst. She cried the entire taxi ride over and once she was let out of her carrier, she dived underneath the TV stand and refused to come out for a whole day. Benito was initially petrified when we first put him in his carrier but after landing in our new home, he was curiously exploring every nook and cranny before finally getting bored and demanding his dinner. Belleville’s first reaction was to copy mum and dive for cover under the nearest piece of furniture, before getting hungry enough to forget what had happened the minute I gave into Benito’s tea time demands. After her evening meal had settled, she too began exploring and rubbing her smell on all the new doors. Within a couple of days, they began playing with each other again and deciding where their new nap spots would be. I currently don’t have a washing machine which means every few days I have an excuse to go back home and hang out with Barbossa and The Great Catsby!

After being bed-bound for a few weeks, the moving day completely wiped me out. The next day I woke up shaking, being sick and generally feeling horrendous! I had to go back to mum’s house to having my dressings changed as my flat was in no fit state for visitors, and after describing my brand-new symptoms to the nurse, she advised that it was the most my body had done in so many weeks, and only recently after a general anaesthetic, I had simply done too much and needed to go back to resting. After that feeling, I have been too nervous to push myself for fear of getting those symptoms back so I am still living amongst quite a few boxes and I have yet to rebuild my IKEA desk space, hence the lack of blog for so many weeks.

I have been back at work (Finally!) this week so for the moment Blog Days are going to be every two weeks for the foreseeable future, or until I get my flat sorted! I’ll still be keeping you all updated with news and updates about any new products and details of when the website will eventually go live! As always readers, I hope you have a lovely week ahead!

Much love,

                                The Cat Lady

                                                          xxx

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Cat Friendly Gardening

As I have previously mentioned, I haven’t been in the best of health for the past couple of weeks due to pretty much every symptom you could imagine and no confirmed one cause, other than a suspected infection working slowly around my whole body. As a result, I haven’t been able to go to work - let alone stand up for longer than ten minutes at a time – so I’ve been almost house bound while my body recovered. Much to Captain’s amusement as she loves having me around constantly for cuddles and compliments! Even for a self-confessed TV addict, I quickly got bored and restless. Unable to focus properly to blog, indulge in any creative hobbies or even read a book, susceptible to an almost narcoleptic need for multiple naps a day at short notice all the while dealing with (ahem) a very quick and unusual digestive system, I had to come up with a new way to positively engage my brain.

Along with Captain, my mum loves when she gets to spend time with me, even if is when I’m asleep at the bottom of the sofa! As my daily nap requirements began reducing, we realised there has been a project that neither of us had previously had the time to begin, which was sorting out our garden to create a relaxing and calming space in which we could enjoy some fresh air and beautiful plants.

As soon as we started to discuss which plants and flowers we would like, we immediately agreed on Catnip first and foremost. We both love Lilly’s, but sadly are aware of the imminent danger they can cause cats if the pollen heavy part of the flower is ingested, which meant they wouldn’t be making an appearance in our dream garden. It got me thinking to which other flowers and plants could be potentially deadly to my fur-babies and which could benefit them and make them love our small, serene enclosure.

I’m a huge fan of bad news before good news, so before I share which plants your cats will love, I’ll share which plants and flowers it's best to avoid having in yours and your cats home or garden.

Toxic plants:

Amaryllis (Amaryllis sp.)

Autumn Crocus (Colchicum autumnale)

Azaleas and Rhododendrons (Rhododendron sp.)

Castor Bean (Ricinus communis)

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum sp.)

Cyclamen (Cyclamen sp.)

English Ivy (Hedera helix)

Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe sp.)

Lilies (Lilium sp.)

Marijuana (Cannabis sativa)

Oleander (Nerium oleander)

Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum sp.)

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)

Sago Palm (Cycas revoluta)

Spanish thyme (Coleus ampoinicus)

Tulip and Narcissus bulbs (Tulipa and Narcissus sp.)

Yew (Taxus sp.)

The main symptoms these plants can cause your cats to suffer from most commonly are: Difficulty breathing (if the airways are affected), Drooling or difficulty swallowing (if the mouth, throat, or oesophagus is affected), Vomiting (if the stomach or intestines are affected), Diarrhea (if the intestines or colon are affected), Excessive drinking and urinating (if the kidneys are affected), Fast, slow, or irregular heart beat (if the heart is affected). If your cat is suffering from any of these symptoms it is best to seek the advice of a veterinarian to determine the best cause of treatment to get your fur-baby ‘feline’ fine again. In order to avoid any awful catastrophes, remove any plants and flowers that are toxic to your cat’s health. Cats are very intelligent animals; however, they will still likely have a munch on the leaves of any plants they like the smell of, regardless of how poisonous they will be.

Moving on from the toxic plants and flowers, there are six main plants that your cat will love and they are very friendly to their small, four-legged bodies:

1.   Cat Grass (dactylis glomerata) - Fun to grow – especially for those who aren’t particularly green thumbed. It’s great not only for cats to help with digestions, but for dogs, guinea pigs and bunnies, too. 

2.   Lemongrass (cymbopagon) – Kitties love the smell of lemongrass, so if you're growing some for yourself, grow some extra for them to gnaw on.

3.   Catnip (nepeta cataria) – Do I really need to explain this one?! Caution: it will also attract neighbourhood cats. So, if you don't want it all steamrolled by chemically altered felines, you might want to grow some of it in a hanging basket.

4.   Catmint (nepeta x faassenii) – Gorgeous plant with purple blooms, attracts not only cats, but butterflies and bees, as well!

5.   Mint family – Cats can be attracted to mint, while mice are deterred by peppermint. So, if you want to make your furry friends happy and lessen your chance of having a mousy gift left on your front doorstep, peppermint might be just the ticket.

6.   Valerian aka Silver Vine (valeriana officinalis, valerianaceae) -  Has a similar effect as catnip and is a mild stimulant. Commonly has white or pink flowers.

Non-toxic plants and flowers are not just limited to the above list. Roses, Sunflowers, Snapdragons, Orchids, Gerberas and Celosia are also beautiful flowers which are harmless and therefore safe to have around a home shared with a cat. Be sure to let your other half in on this information so they’ll have no excuses to shower you in stunning bouquets!

Hope you have enjoyed this week's blog, cat lovers, and I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

As always, much love

                               The Cat Lady

                                                      Xxx

*information on six main non-toxic plants sourced from http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/7-plants-your-cats-will-love-w-148323

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

A Review of Handmade Cat Collars By Dainty Luna

As soon as I saw the gorgeous package, I knew it must have been Captain’s latest gift to test out. 

This time it was a stunning, handmade, adjustable, safety buckled Cat Collar – with two bow sizes to pick from, created by Dainty Luna! In all the photos, Captain is wearing the larger of the two bow sizes.

The collars come in two separate sizes; small and medium (Dainty Luna also offer them in a large size for dogs*). The small collar would be suitable for a kitten or a small cat and the medium would fit an average sized cat. 

Remember, these collars are adjustable so you don’t have to worry about your Big Boned/Curvy/More Cushion For The Cuddling Kitty Cat, being too small – as Dainty Luna believe a cats beauty is not down to how much they weigh!

When Dainty Luna first got in touch I mentioned I was IN LOVE with the Strawberry & White collar I found looking through her Etsy online shop - she couldn’t have been more helpful in allowing me to pick my freebie Captain’s stock to test!

In the interest of testing fairly, she’s had the collar (and bow) on constantly, for one week as an indoor cat. Even after a week of playing with the other four cats, sleeping, stretching and rolling herself around various different flooring, they had hardly any scuffle marks and the bow itself hasn’t lost any of its original shape. As I had predicted, these collars are made using quality material.

Now that the beds had passed the test, I wanted to get to know the creator of Chutney and Herb a bit better. Cue my second ever interview:

1.       How did Dainty Luna become the name of the business?

 The name Dainty Luna was actually inspired by my own kitty Luna, when we first bought her she was absolutely tiny and she still is a very small cat compared to other cats her age, so the name Dainty is related to her size and Luna is her name.

 2.       What inspired you to create a small business?

 I've always had a creative flair but could never decide how I wanted to explore it. The cat collar range in pet shops isn't always to everyone's taste as I found some designs "too plain" - I'm a very picky person and I wanted my cats to wear something different. Like dogs, I think cats can be stylish too. I decided to try and have a go at my making my own collars - my cats loved them and looked amazing in them. From there, I decided to share them with other people and Dainty Luna was opened in November last year via the handmade market "Etsy"

 3.       Which cat/dog (if any) inspired you to make them a cat/dog                       collar?

 My beautiful kitties Luna and Jim.

 4.       If it was a close family pet, what was the cat/dog called and what             were their quirks & personalities like?

 Luna and Jim and complete opposites- with 4 years between them both. Jim is the oldest at 7 years old and is the clingy cat who loves cuddles and spending all night with you.  Whereas Luna is the more independent cat that loves to do her own thing and will only request a cuddle when she feels like it - although she is always on hand to model my collars, she actually loves to let me put them on her and take photos - honestly you should hear her purrs -  which is why she models my newest designs about 80% of the time

 5. What did you want to do when you grew up when you were little?

 I always wanted to be a vet or do something that involved animals. I grew up with many pets so I've always been an animal lover.

 6. What was school life like? Did you know what you wanted to study at the time? Or were you just floating through options not sure what you wanted to?

 In school, I was never 100% certain what career choice I wanted, I did however find I always picked the creative subjects like art and design technology, I also studied Media and Photography in College for three years after I left school. All these have subjects have however helped me in some way to get me where I am now.

 7. Are you a cat or a dog person?

 Definitely a cat person a don't get me wrong I adore Dogs and I have a border collie called Sasha - but I grew up with 4 cats since I was a baby and I think they will always have a special place in my heart. I'd have more than 2 cats if I could - but I don't think Jim or Luna would agree to that.

 The bow, itself, can be removed – so don’t forget about it at special occasions like Christmas, Family Parties or even just to wear around the house always feeling dapper! Myself and Charlotte (the brains and talent behind Dainty Luna) are in talks of creating bespoke ‘Kittens First Collar’ which will be in both the kitten welcome pack and also the slightly senior welcome packs, which slowly, but surely collecting. The brilliant thing about these collars is that your kitten will be able to get away with wearing the small bow and then simply adjust the collar as they’re growing.

These collars have most definitely been approved by Captain, so we will be stocking both the bow ties and the plain collars which come without bows. Have a look through all the different, unique patterns and colours Dainty Luna’s Etsy online shop where prices start at only £5.49!

 Sending love & kisses always,

               The Cat Lady

                                                               xxx

*If you would like to purchase a Bow Tie Collar for your dog, or if you can’t wait until our website launch – head over to the Dainty Luna Etsy Shop using the link below and spoil your fur-babies rotten!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DaintyLuna

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

A Review of Chutney and Herb’s Handmade Cat Beds

Another of Captain’s birthday gifts she received (which I didn’t tell you about last week), was a stunning dark pink crocheted bed which creator, Chutney and Herb, had sent to Captain to test out to make sure it would be worthy enough for our website. I feared this would be a short blog as I popped the bed on my ottoman in my bedroom, while I quickly ran downstairs to get some more cat food, and by the time I returned, there Captain was, curled up in the bed.

We (me) now call it her day bed as that’s where she snoozes during the day while I’m blogging or tidying – and then when it’s finally time for me to get into bed – she wanders over to her night time bed which is where the second pillow should be, on my double bed. Yes, I am on the wrong side of twenty, sharing my bed with a cat. I am a strong, independent single woman. That is what I keep telling myself anyway! As you can see above, all of the cats have been bravely trying to pinch Captain’s new bed - a testament to how comfy it must be for them.

Now that the beds had passed the test, I wanted to get to know the creator of Chutney and Herb a bit better. Cue my first ever interview:

1.     Why is your business called Chutney and Herb?

Chutney is my Westie puppy and Herbie is my sister's cat and they're genuinely best friends. There are 9 days between them so they probably won't remember life without each other, so it just made sense for me to name my business after them. 2. What inspired you to decide to create a business?

I've always been quite creative and always wanted my own business. I used to make random things for my cats and then when I got my dog I started making things for her too and I really enjoyed it so I started thinking about products I can make and sell to other pet owners.

3. How old were you when you started crocheting?

I think I've been crocheting since I was about 14

4. What made you want to learn how to crochet?

I just really liked the look of it and fancied giving it go. I learnt to knit first, I enjoy knitting too but I prefer crocheting.

5. Which cat (if any) inspired you to crochet them a bed?

I crocheted my dog a bed first because I'd just moved to a new house and couldn't find her bed anywhere so I decided to make her one then I made Matilda who is one of my cats one to test it out as I'd decided to sell them at this point. 6. If a close family pet then what were they called and what were their quirks and personalities like? The dog is Chutney and she genuinely thinks she's a cat, she's a really good dog and is just really chilled out. Matilda is a bit mad, she's quite a human cat, is really friendly and she ends up with a lot of beds and other things that I make because she claims them and I'm too soft to take them off her. 7. What did you want to do when you grew up when you were little?

I wanted to work in film or TV (behind the camera not in front of it or own my own business. 8. What was school life like? did you know what you wanted to study at the time? Or were you just floating through options not sure what you wanted to study until college/uni if any apply?

I liked school but I really didn't like college at all. I enjoyed Media so I studied that as a BTEC at college. I finished college early then got an Apprenticeship in Business and Administration which I enjoyed. I really didn't fancy going to Uni.

9. Are you a cat or a dog person? I'm very much a cat person who has a dog. However, Chutney thinks she's a cat so I have the best of both worlds really!

 I’m over the moon to confirm I will be stocking Chutney and Herb beds and mats for your fur babies as soon as the website goes live. Prices starting from just £21 for a mat and £24 for a snuggly bed. You can see from the image above that these beds have tonnes of room for your kitty. Captain fits in it perfectly (as she is a curvy kitty) and as Belleville is on the smaller side, you can see all the stretching space she has.

The best thing about these beds (apart from their luxurious feel) is that they come in a huge array of different and unusual colours. Perfect if you’re after a unique bed for your kitty. Beds are still available to purrchase from Chutney and Herb’s Etsy shop – so if you’re feeling impatient and need to get your paws on one of these immediately – head to the website by following the link below.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ChutneyAndHerb

As always cat lovers, I hope you have a fantastic week ahead!

               Much love, as always,

                               The Cat Lady      

                                               xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

I Was Once Reported To The RSPCA

It’s been mine and Captains Birthdays this month (mine is yet to come), and so my mum took me to a lovely café for brunch, before we had a look around some of the charity shops a bit further afield than we normally go. One of the charity shops we went in was the RSPCA charity shop where, my mum treated me to a stunning, vintage, Bonheur Du Jour (translated – meaning ‘’Daytime Delight) Lady’s writing desk. They’re also going to deliver it to me on my Birthday so I can spend my birthday, with my new upcycling project, which is a huge hobby of mine!

Sadly, it’s also just reminded me about the time I was reported to the RSPCA. Shocked? Yeah, I was too!

Quite a few years ago, one Saturday morning I was woken to the sound of my dad shouting at me to come downstairs, as there was an RSPCA lady at the front door. Once I came to the door I asked what was the reason for her visit, she replied ‘’there’s been an anonymous report about the welfare of your cats’’. I stood in front of her, for about five seconds, just trying to process what she was talking about.

(This was even before Belleville and Benito were even born!)

You never really know what a knock at the door from someone dressed in a uniform of authority could result to so, naturally, my dad wanted my second opinion before letting her in the house. At this point in our lives, we had four indoor cats and a million things went through my head. ‘’Does owning four cats count as hoarding and they were going to be taken away?!’’, ‘’It can’t be angry neighbours for my cats pooping in their gardens or yards’’, ‘’In fact could it be angry neighbours, who have cats pooping in their gardens assume it’s us, even though my cats are indoor cats?’’.

As various scenarios ran through my head I found myself inviting her in, apologising for the mess - she would look around at every inch of every room while asking questions like, ‘’how many cats I owned?’’, ‘’how long have I been a cat owner?’’- which I briefly answered and mumbled something about trying to find them all (my fur-babies hadn’t even woken up from their various sleeping places around our house), while I guided her through to the kitchen (where there’s always dry food and water), knowing that you can trust the room where the food was, to be where Phoebe, Captain, Barbossa and The Great Catsby would usually hang out. Even as I’m typing this, I am wearing the exact same bewildered, confused expression I must have greeted her with.

Thinking the worst - that my cats were about to be taken away from me – I offered her a coffee, which she politely denied – busy lady, more visits to be made that day from other reports she had to check out, so I began asking her what this was all about.

She advised me that the RSPCA had received an anonymous tip from someone, claiming that my cats were flea ridden to the point of patches of fur missing. Due to the serious nature of the complaint, she had to make a house call to make sure my cats weren’t in any danger. My jaw dropped. After I regained my composure I simply said, ‘’I understand you need to check reports as serious as these, and I value and respect the work yourself and the organisation you work for, do daily.’’

The cats hadn’t had their morning wet food breakfast so I knew that would get them all in the kitchen where they would start meowing and chirping their breakfast song. As suspected the minute I opened the cupboard door where we keep their wet food, they all bounded into the kitchen, also meowing a hello to the RSPCA lady.

Normally, Captain is quite unladylike when it comes to mealtimes, demanding to eat as much food as she possibly can before the other cats have a chance. This time, however, it’s as if she knew exactly what was going on. She leapt onto the kitchen counter next to me, with her snow white, full body of fur, she starting eyeing up this visitor, purring as I stroked her. As Captain is the captain, the other cats followed suit and just sat in between me and the RSPCA lady, pondering why this strange lady was attending their breakfast time. Curiously eyeing her up, in between small bouts of grooming, as they themselves, had only just awoken. They must have been able to smell all the different animals on her uniform, as The Great Catsby and Barbossa began shamelessly sniffing at her boots and trousers, while Phoebe looked bored and began snacking on her breakfast.

Now that I had my chubby, full-furred kitty clowder around me, casting their sleepy, happy faces at our visitor, she took once glance at all four and just said ‘’Well, I clearly don’t need to be here!’’

No shit, Sherlock – take one look at my Facebook page or Instagram account, added to the fact my cats have a room dedicated to them and their toys alone! I managed to keep that rant in my head of course – she was still a person of authority.

Once she said that I felt confident enough to ask some questions about how she even came to be here. Unfortunately, with the ‘tipster’ wanting to stay anonymous, I wasn’t going to be able to get to the bottom of who it came from.

I then began to feel angry, infuriated even, that someone could, report my home to the RSPCA, resulting in a wasted visit, from an already underfunded organisation, knowing full well I worship my cats! That visit could have gone to save an animal who was suffering from abuse or neglect. That wasted visit could have saved an animal who was only a moment from death from starvation. That wasn’t a prank, or funny in any way – it was cruel.

I am a huge believer in Karma - and I know that whoever deemed my idolised cats to be in so much danger, they needed to be reported to the RSPCA - will get their Karmic Retribution. Karma also brought me back to their charity shop where I found my two new stunning projects for the bargain price of £34.

And to top the day off, Captain came home to a beautiful birthday card stuffed with a huge poesy of freshly grown CATNIP, from our lovely neighbour’s cat’s PawPaw and Tomzo. Judging by her reaction, it was the best birthday gift she’s ever received!

I hope you all have a lovely week ahead readers!

As always, much love,

                               The Cat Lady

                                               xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

Did you know that this month is National Microchipping Month? – Plus A Big Surprise Reveal Ending!

No? Neither did I If I’m being completely honest. 

It wasn’t until I logged into my emails, which I had been meaning to organise anyway, then I came across an email from the Cats Protection, which informed me that this month, was, in fact, National Microchipping Month. I’m not sure if it’s actually a national holiday as such, but a campaign the Cats Protection have launched to help spread the word that microchipping is the most effective way to identify a lost pet cat.

Especially if you’re like me, and have indoor cats. The few times they’ve snuck out thinking they were clever, I’ve always found them outside the front door meowing to get back inside come morning time. Not even that long ago, during the May downpours, we found Benito outside, hiding underneath an old sofa we had in the yard. Luckily, it was that night he chose to have his scary wet, windy, dark experience – as the very next day we had taken the old sofa to the local tip – could also mean he mighthave lost one of his 9 lives!

It's a Cats Protection campaign that encourages and promotes responsible pet ownership through microchipping as the preferred method of permanent identification. Cats Protection advises microchipping as the most effective way to identify a cat or a dog - by keeping your details up to date, you'll increase the likelihood of a happy reunion. You'll need to ensure you update your details if they change for any reason - especially if you change address! 

You'll increase the likelihood of a happy reunion if your cat goes wandering. You can get your cat microchipped by a vet, local authority or by a trained and insured member of an animal welfare organisation. There is no minimum age to microchip your cat, and the procedure is simple and doesn't cause harm.

Below I have included some of the most FAQ and answered them for you:

The Procedure?

Basically, a microchip (smaller than the grain of rice) is inserted under the Cat’s Skin, just between their shoulder blades, using an implanter device (not as scary as you think – a slightly larger needle), very simple and no more painful than their first injections – once inserted, your kitty won’t even know it’s in there.

The Price? – approx. £20 – £30 

Additional Costs Associated With Microchipping?

Depending on where you take your cat (your local vet or one of the larger chain vets) to have the microchipping procedure, there would only ever be fees to update your details on their records. Or if you continue reading on, I have listed the only two registers microchipping uses in the UK, below. Updating contact details is an OWNERS RESPONSIBILITY – And A Vital Part Of The Microchips Value. There would be no point getting one unless you remembered to keep all vital contact information up to date! Rant over 

How Can I Be Sure My Cats Details Have Been Registered, Following Microchipping?

You will be sent registration documents, usually a few weeks after the microchipping taking place. If it feels like its taking a while for them to come through, then I’d recommend getting in touch with whoever performed the procedure. OWNERS RESPONSIBILITY – And A Vital Part Of The Microchips Value - Once you eventually get you registration documents and cat’s microchip number safe! Apologies, last rant, I promise!. 

How do I Check My Cat’s Microchip?

The person implanting the chip will hold a hand-held scanner over your cat to check the implantation has been successful. Upon detection of the microchip, the scanner will display the microchip’s unique number.

What if I Lose My Cat?

As long as you listened to my above two rants, then when the cat is found lost, it can be taken to any local vet, authority, cat shelter or any other sort of animal welfare organisation, where it will be scanned and be able to let you know where your cats are. 

How Easy Is It To Update My Microchips Details? 

VERY – There are only two databases in the UK, who are: 

Petlog – 08444633999 – www.petlog.org.uk  Anibase – 01904487600 – www.anibase.com 

I’m an honest person, so I have to admit that the FAQ portion above was pretty much plagiarised from the Cats Protection Microchipping guide – although told in my own way, which I think makes it more understandable (I hope I did, anyways!). 

I’ve learned a lot about microchipping writing this blog as I hope you have by reading it.

 As I’m sitting writing this, I’m also wondering when I think my local vet’s office will have space to get her booked in for a microchip...and if I’m lucky, they might offer a discount for all five cats?

You may be thinking to yourself that I have been mentioning Cats Protection quite a lot lately… and there is a reason for that. I have always supported Cats Protection as my priority charity, and if you’ve been keeping up with the blogs, you’ll remember that we did a fundraising day in aid of Cats Protection a few weeks ago. 

I am THRILLED to announce that my retail website: 

www.calicocaptaincat.co.uk - Is in association with Cats Protection. It means when shopping for your cute, fluffy/bald, demanding, puddycats – you can also help cats less fortunate than your own by making a donation before completing your online order 

I hope you’re all off now thinking about when to get your moggy microchipped, I know I am. Or if anyone has had any bad experiences with microchipping, get in touch via my email address or message me on Facebook.

As always, much love,

                  The Cat Lady

                                     xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

Silver Vine Sticks – Even Better Than Catnip?

While having another organise and sort around of stock (yes all I seem to do these days is rearrange my stock) I came across lots and lots of Silver Vine Sticks, which I ordered earlier last year. As they are all still in their airtight bags, they’re just as potent as ever. I’m talking to you as if you knew the capabilities of Silver Vine (although, I had never heard of them until a wholesaler of mine asked me if I would like to try them). I thought he was genuinely taking me for a ride when I decided to order some to test and I received five…twigs?  

Here is a description of the effects Silver Vine has on kitty-cats:

Silver vine (also called matatabi) has long been known to elicit euphoric response in cats and it is the most popular cat treat in Asia. The reaction to silver vine is similar to the catnip response, but appears to be more intense, Silver vine is a great alternative to catnip, and many cats who are immune to catnip will respond positively to silver vine. Typical behaviours include rolling, chin and cheek rubbing, drooling, and licking. The effect usually lasts between five and 30 minutes, and cats will usually visit silver vine again after about 20–30 minutes. Play safely, supervise play time with your cat.

We decided, in the interest of a fair testing, that all five cats would get to test their very own twig to see what would happen. As always it was my angel Captain who tested first. Captain is a huge lover of catnip anyway so when she got even a tiny sniff of the Silver Vine stick she was all over it. I placed the remaining sticks around the living room for my other four cats to try. They had all gathered as soon as they heard Captain’s meows and purrs. I have never seen something have such a strong response from any of my five cats before. They all immediately fell on their sticks, rolling around with them, rubbing their cheeks all over and even chewing on their sticks. Even Benito got involved and he isn’t usually interested in catnip, whereas all the other fluffballs love anything remotely sprinkled in catnip.

After a while, they all seemed to want to check out each other’s sticks and then ensued musical Silver Vine sticks. Eventually, their high seemed to wear off and they all fell asleep on their sticks, purring their heads off! After their playtime catnap, they even went back to their sticks to play with. I originally tested a stick with Captain FOUR weeks ago, and she still loves playing with it now – good to know their potency sticks around – pun intended! Check out the video above of her reaction when I opened the bag of Silver Vine sticks for the very first time.

Out of all products my cats and I have tested, I have never been as blown away by a reaction, as I was when it came to Silver Vine sticks. Such a simple, yet massively effective toy that your cat is bound to enjoy, especially if they’re not very partial to a bit of catnip! Silver Vine sticks will be appearing on my website when we go live, and I would love to hear about how your cats respond to them. I hope you all have a lovely week ahead, hopefully, less rainy and please get in touch to share your cats ever experiences if they have had the pleasure of trying Silver Vine sticks!

As Always, Much Love

                               The Cat Lady

                                               xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

A Series Of CATastrophes Leading Up To Our Pawsome Afternoon Tea Day

Well, what a busy week I have had! Along with organising the Cat’s Protection Pawsome Afternoon Tea fundraising day on Friday, I was also secretly organising a birthday surprise for a very good friend (and fellow cat lover) on Thursday. As it was to be her 21st birthday I wanted to go all out for her. I secretly swapped my 12pm-8pm shift on the Thursday to an 8am-4pm shift, meaning I could start an hour earlier than her and decorate her desk with banners, balloons, bubbles and of course pressies! Luckily for her, it went without a hitch and she loved all the effort we, as a team, had gone to!

Moving on to the series of CATastrophes, leading up to Pawsome Afternoon Charity Day Friday.

On Monday, an adorable cat faced cookie cutter arrived which I was going to use to make my splendid mini kitty pizzas. Another lovely friend at work had offered to make his famous cheese scones for the day and we came up with the brilliant idea of me making my pizzas on Tuesday and bring in the cookie cutter for him to try and make cat face scones the next night to see how they would turn out.

I should also point out that I’ve never made fresh pizza dough so I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into.

I made a damn good dough and rolled it out nice and thin and began to cut my cat heads out of it. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the dough didn’t stay thin for very long. And so, ensued me rapidly trying to roll, cut, place on baking tray, smear with tomato purée and sprinkle with mozzarella, each individual kitty pizza. I think I lost my mind at about the third batch and thought to myself, that’s all I can take – people will like them – they don’t have a choice!

The next day, what had I forgotten to bring in…the cookie cutter. And I forgot it again and again and again – so we ended up with some rather tasty, although not quite cat-like, cheese scones. And what else did I forget to bring in on the Friday ��� my bloody Kitty Mini Pizzas!

Another of my close friends at work, Shelley, is a fantastic baker! Her cakes are always delicious and perfectly decorated! As she works part time, she didn’t have to work the day before Friday so she could spend the entire day cooking up a storm.

I was also planning on doing some baking on Thursday night. I had ordered some edible, rice paper cats to put on twenty-four cupcakes. I had it all planned out in my mind – I was going to make a dozen simple vanilla cupcakes, and a dozen lemon cupcakes – and then add my final finishing touches with the rice paper cats. After my long day at work, I came home, put the oven on to preheat while I got my bake on. First things first, I had to cream the sugar and butter together. After I had done that, the next thing the recipe called for was the flour. I went to the baking cupboard and got out the bag of flour, during which, I seemed to get a lot more on me than normal. Then I realised – my baking cupboard had been infested with flour mites. Knowing I now couldn’t make my cakes, I went to the oven to turn it off and as I did, I noticed a lot of smoke inside. When I opened the door, a huge cloud of black smoke poured out of it! Not only had my flour been infested, my oven was now clearly broken as well! In my sorry state, I rang Shelley to find out if she had faired any better than me on the baking front.

Earlier in the week, Shelley had ordered some cat sugar moulds online as she was going to make a stunning cake with sugar cats dotted all over it. When it arrived, it was tiny. They were so tiny that they would have approximately been the same size of a postage stamp. On her day off, before our Cat Day Friday, she travelled down to Sunderland, to her nans to make some plate pies. Her nan, who is 97, shows her how to make the filling and the pastry. Twenty minutes later, her aunts arrive and take over, while her nan had a sit down, as she can’t stand up for very long. Working in one of the tiniest kitchens in the whole world, on the hottest day of the year, five hours later it’s time for Shelley to leave, covered head to toe in flour and pastry, and minus a couple of pies as her Nan decided half way through that Shelley could make her some pies as well, also minus another pie as one slide off the shelf and onto the floor.

Shelley then decides to head off home to start baking the cat cakes. On her way home, she stops off at Aldi for a few things for the cakes, including a fantastic new cake tin with cake stand and slicer. She then heads to Tesco, for the remaining items she needs, including a handy little gadget to slice cakes in half. Eventually, she makes it home and begins to unpack her shopping. One of the first things she unpacks is her new cake tin, only to discover that the slicer was missing. Not the end of the world, as Shelley still has another cake tin in her cupboard so she can just make two cakes.

As time is ticking, Shelley decides to start baking and begins to get all her ingredients out along with the other cake tin. After searching high and low and still not being able to find the cake tin anywhere, it dawns on her that she had thrown away the cake tin as the spring had broken on it the last time she was baking. Shelley heads back out to Aldi to change her cake tin - sadly they didn’t have any others so she decided to keep it and she got a few pounds back. Could things be finally taking a positive turn?

She then heads to Tesco to get a cake tin, and while she’s there she sees a lovely cake/cupcake carrier on sale for only £6.50 - less than half of what she paid for her cake tin and so much more practical, so of course, Shelley gets that as well. By this time, it’s 7 pm and time to get started. After an hour and a half, the first cakes are out and cooled ready to be cut for the filling – time for her handy new cake slicer gadget, although she can’t find it anywhere. It’s not in her utensil drawer, so she goes back out to the car to search there but still, the gadget is nowhere to be seen. Her only conclusion is she left it at the self-checkout area as she refused to pay the 5p for a carrier bag. Shelley’s a trooper though and she carries on without her handy gadget until 12 am when her three cakes are baked and two are decorated as she ran out of icing.

She wakes up nice and early on Cat Day Friday, and receives a call from her nan saying she absolutely can’t take the pies in as they are ‘rotten’ – her exact words. Shelley packs up all her cakes, minus the ‘rotten’ pies, and heads up to work early where she can finish decorating the last cake.

Unbeknownst to me at the time as I was upstairs manically making 50p mix-up bags of sweets to sell to raise more money.

Shelley drops the cakes off in the reception area, while she goes off to park her car. When she arrives back at reception, she finds a puddle of cream surrounding the other cakes – yup, her fresh cream had exploded and covered the contents of the 5p carrier bag she had decided to pay for. Shelley had to then clean up the cream disaster and head upstairs to finish decorating her cakes. After a long day at work, with very little sleep, it was finally time for Shelley to go home. Once she recovered slightly from the traumatic series of events, she decided to try one of her pies to find out exactly what was wrong with them. A rather confused Shelley decided she couldn’t find a reason why the pies were ‘rotten’ as they tasted perfectly fine to her. She decided to ring her dad to see if he would be able to explain, and it turns out her nan is famous for having an inferior pie complex!

Another of my close friends at work baked his speciality empire biscuits and I think his baking was the only baking that went without any problem!

Despite the sheer volume of things that went wrong the Pawsome Afternoon Tea Day was a massive success. As Shelley was the only one who managed to bake anything cat related she won a bottle of wine by default, which she definitely deserved! It was a fun day with the Tom(cat)bola, guess the cat burglar and guess how many chocolate mice were in the Jar! Everyone got involved and in the end, we have raised £152.42 for the Cats Protection. My target was £100 so I am over the moon that we beat it by an extra £52.42.

After everything that was going on last week, I might spend my whole Bank Holiday Monday asleep!

I hope you have all had a lovely long weekend off, and a great week ahead!

As Always, Much Love,

               The Cat Lady

                               xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

This Week, I Got Dumped & Bought Some Collars.

A few blogs ago, you may remember a certain Cat Man who had taken an interest in me and I had taken an interest in him. Straight, forward right? Boy likes Girl, Girl likes Boy...what can possibly get in the way of that?! Anxiety.

It’s something I have struggled with for a long time, coupled with the recent depression added into that makes everything ten times harder than normal people could ever imagine. Many, many years ago I had my heart broken by the first person I ever had the misfortune to fall in love with. That love was not reciprocated and I now find it almost impossible to let my guard down when it comes to potential people I like. I’m a flirtatious person by nature so it’s not a problem getting someone I am interested in to maybe like me back (I realise how big-headed that makes me sound, but please bear with me here), it’s the panic of when they do like me back. I freak out! I self-sabotage, I convince myself that maybe because they have brown hair instead of blonde we wouldn’t work out, any sort of ridiculous reasoning I can think of. Then I met Cat Man. We almost went on a pre-arranged date but last minute, as we were meant to leave work together I freaked out. I had an anxiety attack and pretty much ran home where I spent the night crying on my friend’s and cat’s shoulders.

I posted my blog and sent him the link and he said he would wait until I got my anxiety under control and we could try again then. I phoned my doctors the very next day and explained the medication I had previously been taking was no longer working so I wanted to try something else. Granted this was quite a few months ago so I could understand him getting frustrated that nothing had happened since. In that few months, however, I could feel a difference and I know I am making progress and quite frankly I am proud of myself for once. Cat Man, obviously hasn’t seen the improvements in my attitude, my positivity, my confidence in front of new people. Earlier in the week, he asked me if I was worth waiting for. My reply was that I honestly don’t know. I don’t know if I will ever be ready to trust someone else again or let my guard down or if/when my anxiety calms down. His response – ain’t nobody got time for that. I couldn’t even bring myself to reply. You ain’t got time for my anxiety? – well, jog on mate!

So instead of drowning in a sea of chocolate, ice cream and Sex and the City re-runs or plotting his demise in my head – I am pouring my time and energy into more productive things. Such as the Cat’s Protection ‘Pawsome Afternoon Tea’ Day I am hosting in my workplace on Friday 26th May. Fundraising for such a good cause and planning all of the Cat themed baked goods I will be bringing in on the day. I have some very good friend’s birthdays coming up next week and can’t wait to celebrate with them. One of those birthdays will be spent sipping cocktails, in the city, while I am dolled up to the nines and I can’t wait.

Speaking of getting dolled up to the nines, check out the fantastic choice of collars we received with our latest Ancol stock order. The photo above shows them all in their glory! The prices of the collars featured above vary in price between £3.25 - £4.25 and they are a mixture of reflective collars, non-reflective collars and even kitten collars! So, while I am planning on what I’m wearing next weekend, you can start planning what your kitty-cats will be wearing for when the website goes live! Some stunning styles to choose from – and that’s not even including the bling diamanté collars I posted a few weeks back!

I hope you all have a lovely week ahead, I know I’m going too!

               As always, much love,

                               The Cat Lady xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

Cat Scratchers. Cardboard or Post…?

I can’t speak for all cat owners here, but personally, I like my cat’s furniture to match my own furniture. 

I have been, slowly transforming my bedroom into a French vintage-esque/old Hollywood boudoir. During this transformation, I have painted my walls a simple cream colour, bought cream bedding, a crushed gold velvet headboard along with pale pink faux fur throws. I could go on forever, but my point was, my bedroom has a colour scheme – cream, gold and dusty pink. And as Captain spends pretty much all her time with me in my bedroom I realised I had to get her some furniture to match.

One Ancol scratching post in particular (which was Captains Christmas Gift last year) is perfect for my colour scheme. Sadly, only five months in, and all five cats having a go on it – it’s not the best it’s ever looked. I am lucky enough to be able to afford to replace the scratch post they have all loved tearing to pieces, but not all cat owners can afford to spend money on scratch posts every few months.

Before Christmas, we had some work done downstairs in the main part of the house, ending with some lovely new carpet. Despite the numerous cat scratching posts, we have dotted about the house, Benito and Barbossa (Barbossa is being a very bad influence on poor, impressionable Benito) decided that they would start scratching one corner of one step in particular. As soon as we realised they were more committed to this than just a few ‘’shoo, shoo!!!’’, we had to think of something else.

Then mum came in with a cardboard scratcher she had got out while she was shopping. I of course angrily politely asked her why she was buying from my competitors?! Her reply was, ‘’well you don’t have any of these, do you?!”. She was right, I never thought to buy cardboard scratchers. I quietly decided to observe the cat’s behaviour towards the scratcher.

Captain is by name and most definitely Captain by nature. She rules the roost in our house, or should I say, rules the clowder of the other four cats. She is a mother first and foremost so she will always clean the others if they don’t have the same gleamingly clean fur that she does. Among many of her other talents, she also teaches the other cats how to use things. Such as the scratch post she received for Christmas. When Captain sauntered downstairs to see what being served to her for her dinner that evening, she spotted the cardboard scratcher laid across where Barbossa and Benito liked to scratch she knew exactly what it was for. All four other cats sat with gaping mouths while she had a few leisurely scratches on it. You could almost hear the other cat’s thinking ‘’Oh, that’s what it’s for?!’’.

Ever since my genius Captain showed the others what to do, they use it non-stop. Granted, because they are made of a cheaper material, and are cheaper to purchase, they aren’t going to last forever. I decided to get some as they are useful to have around the house. You can stick them around particular furniture legs, that many a cat can’t resist.

We decided, in the interest of fairness, we would test out one of the ones I purchased. It comes with a little sachet of catnip, and you can even hang it on the wall. Sadly, my cats didn’t understand what to do with it when it was on the wall, but they adored it when it was on a flat surface. The loop also comes in handy to have it on a chair leg so the cats can scratch until their hearts are content, without it sliding with them. I sprinkled and rubbed in some of the catnip provided in the sachet and Captain was in heaven. She gets very territorial over things that are meant to be for all five cats. I also think she was a bit high on Catnip during most of the testing so the other cats did manage to get to at least inspect the scratcher. I also tied it up against their once beautiful scratch post, so they are happily using the cardboard scratcher balanced upright.        

We had a rather large stock delivery this month including one of Ancol’s Premo XL Scratching post. It truly is the tallest scratch post I have ever seen! The main reason I bought it was for The Great Catsby and Barbossa. As fully grown, male cats their stretch is very, very long. I thought it would be great for them, however, even they prefer scratching the bottom section of the post. And while I was watching him scratching and scratching at only the bottom half, I realised, as soon as the bottom section was scratched to pieces – it can be taken off and the top part still will be fresh for them. For the price – it actually would probably be worth it in the long run.

From what I have observed of my puddy-cats, is that as long as they have something to have a good scratch on, or file their nails as I like to think of it, they are more than happy. Not all cat owners can afford the top of the line, giant, deluxe cat posts that they would love to be able to get their pet. But of course, there are also cat owners who can afford to treat their cats a little or a lot. I also know that the vast majority of cat owners love spoiling their fur-babies as much as their budget will allow.

You may understand the value of money, but your cats don’t. This week, I wanted to test out cat scratchers from budget, affordable and deluxe ranges and from what I have found is they are all as good as each other. They all have their upsides and downsides but, as I genuinely want people to be able to buy what they need for their cats with my honest reviews. Granted, I do also hopefully want to turn my small business venture into my full-time job, but I want to be able to do it by selling things to other cat parents out there, no matter what your budget may be.

If you were wondering about the costs of the three scratchers we put to the test (presented above by the beautiful Benito, along with a glimpse of my room which I was describing) the Smartchoice© Cat Scratcher With Catnip at £3.60 each, Ancol’s© Square Plush Scratch Post at £14.49 and Ancol’s© Premo XL Scratch Post at £23.99.

I hope you all have a lovely week ahead, cat lovers!

           As always, Much Love,          

                                   The Cat Lady xxx

[thecalicocaptaincatlady-blog]

Danish Design’s - A Review of Their Toy Cupboard Cat Toys

When you’re looking for a beautiful, new toy to really pamper your cats and kittens - look no further than the Danish Design Toy Cupboard range, featuring high quality, long lasting materials. You won’t regret it!

When these toys were first delivered, I had no doubts about the potency of the catnip in them. I’m an online shopping addict, so along with stock deliveries, I tend to receive quite a few other clothes parcels and such. As soon as I saw all five cats surrounding one particular padded envelope, trying to claw their way in, I knew exactly what it contained.

I’m sure by now, you would have all guessed that Captain had first pickings of the toys to test. I had them lain across my new desk in a cute pile hoping to get a shot of the toys before testing began, but Captain beat me to the punch and sat on top of them all, while she selected her favourite. Captain is a huge fan of any form of Catnip and anything she can dig her claws into, so I was surprised to find her favourite of the toys was Nelly the elephant. Nelly the elephant is soft and plush, but judging by Captains reaction, stuffed with very strong Catnip. She had a good cheek rub all over the elephant’s body and then picked it up by the end of its tail, and ran off with it.

While Captain was distracted with Nelly, it gave the other cats a chance to pick their favourites. Benito loved Chip – one of the rougher, smaller chipmunk toys, with a jingle bell inside. On the top row of photo’s, you can see Benito reaching for Chip with his claws ready! Benito is a sucker for any toy with a jingle bell, but I’ve never seen him have as much fun with a toy on his own before. He was dragging it around and flinging it in the air. 

Belleville was quite overwhelmed with the amount of choice I had given her. She loved Milly (the mouse I think...?), but not as much as Gracie the giraffe. It’s one of the more plush, quiet toys that Belleville enjoys. She’s not a fan of toys which make too much noise, due to her timid nature.

The Great Catsby was also a fan of the rougher toys. His favourite by far was Chap (the slightly larger chipmunk). He had great fun sinking his huge paw and claws into that and bopping it around the corridor. The Great Catsby was another cat who had the smarts to pick up his toy of choice and run into the corridor where he could play with it undisturbed! Once he remembered there were other toys to be played with, he came back up to the testing desk (I need to come up with a better name for my new desk), he set his sights on Fido the owl. Fido is another rough toy – better shaped for The Great Catsby’s teeth. He took great delight in chewing it and rubbing it all over his face, clearly enjoying the potent Catnip in this toy too!

Barbossa’s favourite was the Strawberry! Yes, that’s right – Barbossa is a great big softy at heart! He’s also a very patient cat, so he waited until all the mayhem was over (and after I had put my camera away for the day) before checking out what the rest of the clowder had been up to while he was having his lunch.

He’s so patient that he waits until all of the other cats have had their food before beginning to eat. We think he’s a secret eater but that’s a whole different kettle of fish!

Barbossa took one look at that Strawberry and claimed it as his. It’s a nice soft, plush toy – again, clearly stuffed with potent catnip – as he rolled around with it for about half an hour, before curling up with it to go to sleep. I managed to get a last minute photo while he was mid-yawn!

So all five of my cats, with their different preferences and personalities were spoilt for choice with these luxury toys! The toys feel of quality materials, and there was absolutely no doubt in the strength of the catnip they were stuffed with. 

These toys have passed the rigorous testing by miles and we will definitely be stocking them once the website goes live.

It won't be too much longer now, everyone! I know I have been saying that for a while but things are starting to come together! I hope you all have enjoyed reading my review of Danish Design’s Cat Toy Cupboard Toys and I hope you all have a fun-filled week ahead!

               As Always, Much Love,

                                               The Cat Lady xxx