"Dogs, ye have had your day." —(Homer, The Odyssey) To my friends, it has been a nice trip, knowing you all.

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
--Albert Schweitzer

Help Me Live My Life to It's Fullest, and for Me to be Active, Funny, Charming, and Interesting! I Need a High Protein/Low Carbohydrate Diet with NO GRAINS! Please Don't Feed Me Grocery Store Junk Food, and Do Not Succumb to the False Notion and Advertising Hype that Dry Food is Necessary or Valuable for My Dental Health!

Remember: BEHAVIOR STARTS WITH NUTRITION! Help your feline family members realize thier full potential, stay active, slim, and avoid chronic and potentially deadly health issues by acknowledging their nature as obligate carnivores: ridding their diets of grains, and working to reduce or banish dry food from your feeding protocols.

I will urge, implore, BEG… anyone with a cat to learn the basics— just the basics, really: about feline nutrition. Once you learn the basics, you will never need to ask anyone, “what food should I buy?” because you will have no need to: you will make the decision for yourself simply by reading the label on the can or package. With this knowledge, you will be empowered to know how manufacturers manipulate labeling to make food look more nutritious than it really is, and how so-called “premium” brands are so often dominated by useless, inferior, and unhealthy ingredients.

BEST SITES: "Feeding Your Cat" @ www.catinfo.org
"What’s Really in Pet Food" @ http://www.api4animals.org/facts.php?p=359&more=1
BEST BOOK: Your Cat, by Elizabeth Hodgkins, DVM; (which will change your cat’s life).
For Dogs (don't mistake my love for them!): Dr. Pitcairn’s Guide To Natural Heath; and Martin Goldstein, The Nature of Animal Healing (both: for Dogs & Cats).

My (very condensed!) Most Important Book List:
Kindred Spirits: How the Remarkable Bond Between Humans and Animals Can Change the Way We Live (Allen M. Schoen) ;
Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy (Mathew Scully);
The Emotional Lives of Animals (Marc Bekoff);
Striking at the Roots, a Practical Guide to Animal Activism (Mark Hawthorne);
Any and every book by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson: The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats; Dogs Never Lie About Love; When Elephants Weep; The Pig Who Sang to the Moon (The Emotional World of Farm Animals).

"There is only one untruthful creature on earth, and that is man. All others are honest and upright in that they openly declare their nature and do not simulate emotions that they do not have."
--Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher

PLEASE JOIN AND SUPPORT The Humane Farming Association, which accomplishes so much change and good, with so little notoriety and such limited funds: http://www.hfa.org/about/index.html

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
--Anatole France

As part of my personal quest, I would also like to suggest, that cat owners commit to being less concerned (more happy?) with a bit of a messed up home, if it will provide stimulation for our cats! The worst enemy of our cats (and dogs) is boredom! Why do we tolerate our cat being "lazy" or unexicting? Because the most exercise many cats get is walking to the food bowl! How about moving that food bowl around every day, to simulate hunting for food in the wild? How easy it is, to drape a sheet over a table or a few chairs, and make an instant "cave" (didn't Dad do this for us when we were kids, as a quick indoor playhouse on a rainy day?), pull up the backs of the couch cushions on an angle to make a "tunnel," pile some boxes in an ever-changing pyriamid of "steps" to make a "cat's mountain"? What about carpeted resting shelves at the windows? The list can go on and on. Cats want security in their domain, and commonly fear "change" (moving) as a "loss of territory." But within that territory (your home or apartment) they often LOVE incremental change, or the chaos of moving stuff around. My cat is energized to the max during the setup or collapse of Christmas, for example-- all those cartons, bags, places to hunt and investigate, and of course, doing his best to destroy the tree. I grieve for him when I must take down that tree, he so loves hunting and hiding under its "drip zone." During the cleanup, he's found the huge pile of used tissue, and it is a noisy, crinkly, playhouse, where he will hunt that rogue jingle bell that's become detached from some unidentified ornament or perhaps a Santa? He LOVES chaos! So I'd like to see those "perfect" (but BORING) houses be excused, and why not, on your way to work, rearrange the dining or kitchen chairs into a different grouping than yesterday? Why not turn over an upholstered chair for the day (who cares!) to provide a new place to hide or play? Why not hold onto that empty box the new DVD player came in, just for a while-- as a new playhouse? Why not? Who cares about a bit of mess! Your cat will benefit from the mental stimulation, and burn calories to boot, as he plays in this new, exciting, ever-changing world you can create for him, in just a few moments a day.

"To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel's wing, no seraphy's fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful (cat) shall bear him company."
--Alexander Pope: Letters to H. Cromwell

PLEASE CONSIDER TAKING A SHELTER DOG FOR A WALK TODAY. You need not learn his name, but he is there now, as we read this, waiting for some friendship. The ability of an animal to cope with the stress of a shelter environment often determines his ability to survive, and his eventual adoptability. Volunteers help animals cope: you can save a life with a few hours of your time.

"His name is First Friend because he will be our friend for always and always and always." --Rudyard Kipling

I want to thank you, the friends I have made here, for your unwavering support and kind words. I admire and congratulate you for your relentless fight for the integrity of this site; and for the reasoned-- and reasonable commentary that you have left here, in your attempts to offer informative and stimulating discussion and debate. Even in disagreement, I admire and respect you. I offer my sincerest and most profound good wishes that your endeavors for your families and for your individual interests in animal welfare come to fruition with the greatest splendor. You all bring honor and justice to your work with animals both in your personal care and in your activities for animal advocacy.