Our last-year's chrismas picture:
OK - you're right... the cat wasn't really there :~D
This year, we have to add the new dog Homer, and the two new kitties to the pose... hmmm...
Posted on 11/14/2005 12:18:37 PM PST by Borges
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - This will probably be the first time a dog's memorial service is attended by 300 cats. A schnauzer-Siberian husky mix named Ginny will be eulogized Nov. 19 at the Westchester Cat Show, where she was named Cat of the Year in 1998 for her uncanny skill and bravery in finding and rescuing endangered tabbies.
"It'll be right during the show, with the judging going on and all the cats out there on the floor," said Leslie Masson, a spokeswoman for the Westchester Feline Club, which sponsors the show. "We'll call for quiet, and then a few people will get up on stage and talk about Ginny. Her owner will be there and talk, if he's able to, and some people from her fan club."
Ginny died in August at age 17, after a long career as a one-dog rescue party for cats on Long Island's South Shore. The club says she saved hundreds of cats who were abandoned, injured or in harm's way.
Her owner, Philip Gonzalez of Long Beach, has written two books about Ginny and the cats she found, several of whom moved in with him. Among the best-known rescues is the time Ginny threw herself against a vertical pipe at a construction site to topple it and reveal the kittens trapped inside. She once ignored the cuts on her paws as she dug through a box full of broken glass to find an injured cat inside.
Gonzalez, 55, said Thursday that over the years he has tried to train other dogs to do what Ginny did, but "They just didn't have it."
"I didn't train her," he said. "Ginny was just magical in a way. I adopted her from a shelter, and they said she's never been with cats before. But she just had this knack of knowing when a cat was in trouble."
As he used to do with Ginny, Gonzalez still goes out every night to feed stray cats in the area, with the help of the Ginny Fund, which pays for food, medical care and spaying or neutering.
The cats seem to miss Ginny too, he said.
"They want nothing to do with my other dogs," he said. "They used to come up to Ginny and rub against her, even if I was putting food out."
The memorial service will be followed by this year's Cat of the Year award, which is going to an actual cat — Zoe, an 8-year-old ragdoll from Larchmont who saved her owner from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Other cats of the year have included a cat with a cleft palate who taught herself to hold her feeding tube and a cat who campaigns against rules that prohibit pets in senior housing.
Besides the memorial service, the Cat of the Year award and the best-of-breed judging, the show features a household pet competition, an agility contest for cats and a book signing by Allia Zobel, author of "101 Reasons Why a Cat is Better Than a Man."
In addition, about 80 cats from shelters will be up for adoption.
Ours was so smart, she'd tell us when the cat was up to no good. She went with me everywhere in the car and slept next to the baby to guard her. Always polite and respectful. A real sweety. Had a wonderful sense of humor and would actually laugh. Somehow, she picked up tornado safety because everytime there was bad weather, she'd jump in the bathtub. She was a stray who someone had dumped along the highway. We think she was further mistreated because she would slink away at the sight of a gun.
We told them, in no uncertain terms (without hitting them), they were not to eat chickens. But we have to constantly be with them outside, otherwise they will take off after them. It's a game to them! They were professionally trained too.
They are great around our kids. And they have wonderful personalities. One even "sings" along with music she likes.
Dogs rule!
Pippin & Tweek. I love it! :o)
I'm not sure any of my dogs would be so charitable as to rescue kitties. My collie was jealous of my first cat and my first lab was aloof to all the little buggers. The current older dog, a boxer mix, would probably be more tolerant of the current cat without the young lab turning it into a grand chase. Far as the lab's concerned, a cat makes for a great toy. Once in a while Pearl shows a sense of humor about it if she's on a high, safe perch, but mostly she flees in terror of the 2 beasties. I won't even consider trying to get the 3 of them in a Christmas picture pose!
Dogs are naturally going to kill chickens, unless you find one without ~any~ residual prey drive, or raise it so specifically with chickens that they are imprinted very young...
I just choose not to own chickens.
Arm the chickens. You can't arm the cats because they might turn the weapons on you.
They chase the horses too, but sometimes the horses chase them. :~) Of course, huskies are pack dogs, so they get braver when they're let out together. So maybe we should try letting them out one at a time...
Our last-year's chrismas picture:
OK - you're right... the cat wasn't really there :~D
This year, we have to add the new dog Homer, and the two new kitties to the pose... hmmm...
My dogs aren't allowed where the horses are either... they just shouldn't mingle, it's not safe for either of them.
Now after I posted the pic above, you probably won't believe me ;~D
LOL
Pippen and Tweek eh? Those are adorable names. What happened to "Kitties 8 and 9"? ;-)
My husband seems to think cats should have names :~D
You wait... when they grow up, they'll end up only coming to "here kitty kitty" and then only half the time :~D
Doggie ping! Doggie ping! Please add me to the Doggie ping list!
Will doo :~D
"Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death..."
Tweek is really pretty. She's studying to be a Viking Kitty, it looks like!
Awwwwwwww, lookit those pretty blue eyes! And that innocent face! Accourse she's not so innocent now that she and her sister are getting used to you, is she? ROFL
Been a while since I had a kitten. Last time, I was only kitty-sitting for a friend. I'd forgotten what little hellions they could be.
Hey, I LIKE that Christmas picture! So what if you had to apply a little elfen magic? :-D
Doggie ping.
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