Happy Meow-O-Ween from Shadow, Peanut, Mia, Kizmet, Rolz, and Jazmine!

Wishing all you humans and your animal friends a safe and happy Halloween!

Handsome Shadow models for National Black Cat Day

The UK charity Cats Protection created National Black Cat Day on October 27, 2011, to celebrate black cats’ majesty and combat low adoption rates and negative stereotypes. According to its website, the campaign has been successful, with black cats now spending less time in its care than when they launched it!

At Zee and Zoey’s, we love hearing news like that and are happy to share an image of our handsome black cat rescue, Shadow, who showed up at our garage door as an abandoned (and likely abused) kitten early on the morning of November 8, 2019. His journey had some ups and downs, but I can truthfully say he is now completely comfortable with his other cat mates and us and is thriving.

Happy Black Cat Day to all the beautiful house panthers out there, and we hope this day inspires even more adoptions worldwide. There is also a related holiday, Black Cat Appreciation Day, celebrated earlier in the year on August 17. Animal rescue advocate Wayne H. Morris created it in 2011 to memorialize his 33-year-old sister and Sinbad, her twenty-year-old black cat. Furthermore, October is also known as Black Cat Awareness Month. We think any opportunity to celebrate black cats is worth taking!

Shadow on the backyard pavers surrounded by stunning greenery

Hi all,

Deep apologies. It seems a post for my new website launch was posted in error. I do have plans for a new website design, but the launch date is still to be determined. Sorry for any confusion… but I promise it will be worth the wait – lol!

xoxo – from Deb and the Zee/Zoey gang

Happy 13th birthday to sweet Jazmine!

It’s hard to believe our golden girl, once a tiny kitten who Dan and I adopted in March of 2014 after meeting her at the Global Pet Expo in Orlando, FL (love at first sight, of course…), is now a golden girl herself at thirteen years old! She is certainly a young-at-heart thirteen, but according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), she is now the equivalent of seventy-four human years. Read more

My beautiful Zoey – your memory is forever etched into my heart.

There have been many Rainbow Bridge losses in my life, each of them holding a unique spot in my heart. Grieving is never easy. There are the familiar stages of grief identified by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—that many of us experience in one way or another. But I have come to realize there is another layer. Not so much acceptance, but simply a different life.

Nine months have passed since my beloved soul kitty, Zoey, left this earthly world. Our life is quieter now, but I still perceive her imprint throughout the physical home we shared with her.

I see her sleeping on the pillow on our bed. I see her on the ottoman in the dining room, snuggled with her babies, Mia, Peanut, and Rolz. I see her every time I put six food bowls on the floor instead of seven. I see her sunning in the kitchen window, and I see her every time I walk into our guest bedroom, where she spent her final moments wrapped in my arms.

Even during Zoey’s last weeks with us, her kittens, Mia, Peanut, and Rolz cuddled with her on the ottoman.

Zoey had an enormous personality and an equally enormous impact on all of us—me, Dan, her kittens, and her catmates Kizmet, Jazmine, and Shadow. I miss her loud yowls as she pursued and “killed” plush toys scattered about the house, her soft purrs, and the feel of her silky fur when she sat on my lap. I miss her fussy eating habits, her insistence on drinking water from the faucet, and the way she curled up next to me on the couch each evening.

Many Bengals have a penchant for water, and Zoey was no exception.

Like I said, not so much acceptance, because how can I ever truly accept her loss? Life is simply different. And her absence is magnified by the bittersweet realization that, as I look at each of her surviving kittens, one day their chapters will end, too.

All I can do is love and spoil those still with me—fiercely—and be grateful for the incredible memories those I have loved and lost have left behind.

I give all of you who have loved and lost a beloved companion my deepest sympathy and support. Every day is a day to remember them, but consider today an extra-special hug from me to you.

Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day is a special day dedicated to honoring the memories of those beloved pets in our lives we have loved and lost but never forgotten. Whether a pet with fur, fin, feathers, scales, or something else – one pet or many – this day was created for you to honor that pet in any way that feels most comfortable to you. Post a picture, write a poem, share a favorite memory, host a memorial event, upload a video, or write a special blog post and share the link.

ABOUT RAINBOW BRIDGE REMEMBRANCE DAY:
Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day was founded in 2015 by Deborah Barnes, award-winning author and blogger of Zee & Zoey’s Cat Chronicles, in tribute to her Ragdoll cat, Mr. Jazz, whom she had to say goodbye to on August 28, 2013. She shared the journey of letting him go in her critically acclaimed book, Purr Prints of – A Cat’s Tale of Life, Death, and Beyond, and decided to create the day in his honor so others around the world could share memories of pets they had loved and lost.

Graphic designed by Deb Barnes