Paws Up For Wednesday – New Calico Cat Mystery

Olivia and the Mountain Cats

In this story Olivia reaches new heights to rescue stranded cats.

An afternoon hike turns into a difficult cat rescue operation for Olivia, Archie and their people. Parker and Jag struggle to meet the unexpected challenges of a mountain rescue while striving to leave no cat behind. In this story Olivia reveals the identity of a killer, she helps a melancholy horse become reunited with a most unlikely friend, she saves someone from a poisonous snake, and she helps track down several lost and frightened cats. Along the way a young man learns to see the heart of a cat which becomes a life-changing moment for him and for a cat in desperate need of help.

Reader Reviews

“I always love the Olivia mysteries.”

“Any book written by Patricia Fry is a sure keeper.”

“This is an awesome series.”

“This series never disappoints.

“These books are very high on the enjoyment factor.”

“This is a phenomenal series.”

“Absolutely riveting.”

“Olivia is awesome.”

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Meowy Monday – Respect Your Cat Day

Tomorrow is Respect Your Cat Day. Yeah, I’ve never heard of it either. Like you, I would hope that cats are respected every day of every year, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with giving your cat some extra cuddles, a new toy or experience, and/or a greater dose of attention this week.

Here’s a site with some interesting ideas for showing your cat respect and there are some fascinating facts about cats.

https://www.holidaycalendar.io/holiday/respect-your-cat-day

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Feline Fun Friday – Paper Wads and Other Non-Cat Toys

Does your cat choose her own toys? My cats have always enjoyed playing with my pens or paperclips, bobbins dangling from a knitting project I’m working on or the ball of yarn. Olivia likes twister ties and large plastic lids (like off a bottle of milk or orange juice), as well as small plastic bottles.

Another favorite of my cats over the years is paper wads. I go through a lot of paper, so I often wad up used pages and toss it for the cats to play with. While most of the cats would just bat the wads around, Sophie preferred to shred them. She was our shredder. In fact, she’d often make herself a nice nest-bed with her shreddings.

Olivia adores leaping into the air for the paper wads. What an acrobat she is. We also have a game we play every night before bed where we toss paper wads and some of her soft toys on top of one of her tunnels and she dives inside and bats them off. This gives her exercise and something to focus on. She has fun and we laugh hysterically at her antics.

What is your cat’s favorite non-toy toy?

 

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Paws Up for Wednesday – Cuddly Kitten Day

Tomorrow is Cuddly Kitten Day. Folks, you know what to do to celebrate this charming holiday. Yup, cuddle with your cats. For an added thrill, visit someone you know who has a kitten. This will surely make you smile. The kitten will love it, too.

Shelters are starting to fill with kittens. In fact our local shelter is having a spring kitten fling soon. I’m so tempted to go there and play with the kittens, but I don’t want to bring one home and upset Olivia’s apple cart. Plus at my age, it’s not wise to commit to a kitten—an older cat is a better option.

By the way, yes, I have a godparent for Olivia—not one of my daughters, unfortunately. They all have dogs and small grandchildren going in and out. Olivia isn’t used to that much activity. Olivia’s godmother is alone, no children or grandchildren. She adores cats and has fallen in love with Olivia like so many have through my facebook posts and the Calico Cat Mysteries. Her cats have always been inside only cats. And she’s 20 years younger than I am. A purrfect choice, should something happen to me.

Do you have a godparent for your cats?

I was godparent to four beautiful cats once. What a shock when my younger, healthy friend died of an aneurysm.  She had already set it up for me to take possession of the cats. I had four of my own and she did not expect me to take all of hers in, but I organized the adoption of the four cats and made sure they went to the right homes and boy was this a successful and touching experience. The full story is in my book, Catscapades, True Cat Stories.

 

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Meowy Monday – How Does Your Cat Handle Fear?

Cats have interesting ways of showing fear, reacting to fear, and handling fear. It seems to me that some of this is universal among cats. They arch their back and puff up to appear larger than they are and growl to show how fierce they are. We laugh when we see a kitten take this posture, but that kitten isn’t laughing. He means business. Reach in with a hand to comfort him cautiously.

But what interests me this week is how cats handle their fear of strangers, for example, loud noises, and such—things like the sound of rain or hail, thunder, a car backfiring, or the constant roar of a lawnmower or blower. For five days in the last few weeks we had chain saws and a chipper and a stump grinding machine take over our yard to remove a large fallen oak. And I’m still impressed by how Olivia handled this.

When Olivia came to live with us at three months old, she was terrified of the trash trucks. If she was on her windowsill perch when they came rumbling down the street, she’d dive off of it and run into a safe room. Soon she became curious and she’d run back in to see what was going on outside her window. Now, when she hears them rumbling down the street, she runs to the window to watch them. She overcame her fear.

The tree removal noise was something different and it carried on for hours and hours. Her first instinct was to hide. Pretty soon she came out of solitude and began hanging out with me–close to me.

One day four people were walking past my office window into our backyard, hauling equipment, tools, and large loads of wood back and forth. Olivia wasn’t having it. She spends a lot of time on my desk watching the birds out the window, but the intruding workers stopped all that, but only for minutes.

Soon she was jumping up onto my desk to watch them, and that made me wonder, is she just an amazing cat that figures out ways to take care of herself—overcome her fears, or is it because she is an only cat now? There are no other cats for her to feed off of. She feeds off us instead. It’s been a very interesting process to witness, seeing a probably formerly feral cat blossom into such a curious and trusting little being.

Lily, our little tabby–who sadly crossed the rainbow bridge much to soon, had no problem with the noisy trash trucks. She even got used to the vacuum cleaner (at a distance), but thunder scared her to the core.

Max was afraid of everything. Sophie didn’t show fear—she was too gracious, but she had a hiding place we never did find and that’s where she’d go when there was anything in the atmosphere, a stranger in the house, a noise she didn’t understand. And there she’d stay until the “danger” was over.

Max hid from everything under the blankets on my bed.

What is your cat afraid of and how does she handle it?

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Feline Fun Friday – Saint Gertrude of Nivelles Day

Saint Gertrude of Nivelles was, among many other things, Patron Saint of Cat. Since her story is a long one and detailed and fascinating, I’m offering a link to it.

Enjoy: https://nationaltoday.com/saint-gertrude-of-nivelles-day/

 

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Paws Up for Wednesday – Even Flowers Say CAT.

The first time I saw a flower arrangement depicting a cat was at a Cat Writers Association conference. I just thought that was the dearest thing and so creative.

Since then I’ve seen other cat-related flower arrangement. Talk about something that will make you smile.

In case you want to create one or ask your favorite florist to do so, here are dozens of ideas. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/526358275168970353/

It’s also national catio day–Do you have a catio for your cat?

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Meowy Monday – Cat Tattoos

How many ways do you honor your favorite cats? Most likely you take pictures and maybe share them on social media. You might frame special photo of her and display them in your house or you’ve commissioned an artist to do a pencil drawing or a painting of your cat. Some people collect things related to the breed of their favorite cat—jewelry, pottery, and so forth. And most of us have at least one leopard-print piece of clothing. Do you also have socks with cats, cat pajamas, a scarf, purse, shoes…?

I have most of the above. I also write about cats, have cat stationery, stuffed cats, a cat motif mouse pad, cat calendars. You know how it is, once you’re known as that crazy cat lady, there’s no stopping people from showering you with cat stuff (or picking it up yourself).

But do you have a cat tattoo? Yes, that’s the latest thing to show off your cat or your interest in cats or to preserve the image of a special cat.

Just for fun this week, I’ve noted a site where you can get all kinds of ideas for your first or your tenth cat tattoo.

Let’s communicate about this. Do you have a cat tattoo? Are you thinking about getting one?

https://www.boredpanda.com/minimalistic-cat-tattoos

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Feline Fun Friday – Is Your Cat Happy?

This is an interesting question. Of course when we love a cat, we want to think she is happy, contented, and feels safe in our home and in our presence. But how can you tell when your cat is happy? As they say, “Cats can’t laugh,” but they can purr.

Now, not all purring is a sign of happiness. Cats also purr when they’re in distress. They purr in order to comfort themselves. But seasoned cat owners and those who pay close attention know when their cat’s purr is a happy purr.

A cat at play certainly appears to be happy. The sillier Olivia gets, the happier she seems. When your cat is on your lap making biscuits and purring—oh yes, that’s a happy cat. Sometimes just a look your cat gives you, like from upside down while lying on her back on the floor—seems like a happy and contented cat.

Here’s a fun article outlining ways to tell if your cat is happy or not. Enjoy: https://curiositytrained.com/can-cats-laugh/

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Paws Up for Wednesday – Unique Ways to Help Homeless Cats

Many people do what they can to help promote the characteristics of cats because they believe that to know a cat is to love a cat. And the more people who love a cat, the fewer cats are left homeless.

I write to help cats—to promote cats and kittens to people who already love cats, of course, but also to help those who have never known a cat to take another look at them—give them a chance to make an impression. I used to write nonfiction—articles for magazines—and I often wrote about various ways to help or care for cats. Now I write cozy mysteries with cats, showing what cats are capable of (with a little exaggeration here and there—well, it is fiction.) Through my writing I demonstrate the ways of the cat–the allure, the intrigue, the charm.

The internet has become a huge showcase for cats—showing off the variety of cat-types, which celebrities have cats, what cats accomplish during their nine-lives, cute things they do, important things they do, how fun being with a cat can be, how much comfort a cat can provide, the interesting things you can do with a cat.

Science is more interested in cats than ever before, so we have the opportunity to learn more about our cats—why they do what they do, what makes them tick and purr and show emotion.

People have stepped up in many ways to publicly help the image of the cat which, I dare say, has resulted in more cats being adopted. Manufacturers design household items, clothing (shoes, socks, sweaters, scarves, mittens…), jewelry and more depicting cats or with cat motif. And calendars. There are many cat calendars—I was given two this year and bought another few. But the one I think that will make the biggest splash this year is the Australian, firemen calendar. Surely you’ve heard about this calendar by now. A dozen hot firemen are posing with kittens. Their goal, to find homes for 200 cats and kittens that need care and love.

And I believe that all of this is turning more people into cat people, only along with this eagerness to know cats and to have cats there needs to be education so that we continue moving in the direction of rescuing those that are here already, needing a home, spaying/neutering cats before they bring more cats into the world, keeping them safe indoors, giving them plenty of enrichment, and making sure they regularly see their veterinarian.

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