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This Siamese is a homeless and affectionate semi-feral living in Hastings-on-Hudson N.Y. She is spayed and fed daily but could use a real home or a warmer shelter. If you have any suggestions, let me know.

News & Mews
I'm still purring from a three day cat writers conference and cat show Cat Writers.org Imagine one hundred of the nicest, most knowledgeable crazy cat ladies (okay a few men) who write and illustrate books about cats. I got to hang with my favorite cat writers and bloggers like Ingrid King from the Conscious Cat and Janiss Garza from Sparkle Cat. When not attending lectures and pitching agents, we enjoyed lovely meals sponsored by the ASPCA, Hartz Mountain, Pfizer Animal Health and Central Life Sciences (the makers of the amazing Feliway) Central Life Sciences
 
My cats loved the huge goodie bag of kitty treats and toys. In fact, it was the first time all three played together since Merlin's illness and adjustment to the new kitties, Odin and Gris Gris.

I'm happy to report Merlin has made a complete recovery. He's sleeping and playing with the new kitties and I believe Feliway helped ease the transition. It's a pheromone (available as plugin diffuser or spray) designed to mellow cats naturally and prevent scratching or other behavioral problems. The only problem this week was outdoors. My feral boy Domino fended off a furry attacker on the porch and suffered bloody lacerations. To be on the safe side, he's on antibiotics. When not hunkered down in his heated cat cave, he begs at the door for extra treats and catches mice for sport, flipping them in the air and chomping their heads off. Yum yum. A tamer version of yum yum indoors included Thanksgiving turkey which Odin and Gris Gris loved. No post turkey dinner torpor here. Odin climbed up curtains and played Tarzan swinging from a branch of a tropical plant. Will swinging from chandeliers be next?
Odin, our foster kitty has grown all lanky teenage boy in two weeks. He has his one eye fixed on mischief and mayhem at all times. The cat shelter, Cat Assistance from where Odin is from, tried promoting him at the cat show last weekend but there was no interest. We will continue to foster this lovable monkey.

Speaking of the cat show, lowly alley cats looking to be adopted, shared the hall with purebreds of every stripe. Can you pick the one cat who is from a shelter?

To me, all cats are beautiful no matter their pedigree. During the cat show, some of the cat writers like Niki Anderson and the prolific Allia Zobel Nolan (shown below) participated in an autograph party and a Q & A. I love Allia's latest book, the funny CAT CONFESSIONS: A KITTY- COME-CLEAN TELL-ALL BOOK



Later that evening, I attended the annual awards banquet. Happy winners Ingrid King, Mary Shafer and Robin Olsen showed off their awards. I've never been more proud to be a crazy lady, and can't wait for next year's conference.