Thursday, September 5, 2013

Spotlight Post: Susan Faye Pet Products

As a craft lover, I spend a lot of time on Etsy. What is Etsy exactly? It is a nifty little online marketplace where craft makers and lovers alike come together to sell (or buy) handmade products, vintage items or commercial/handmade supplies. (read all the way to the bottom for a special coupon!)

Now, in addition to spending a lot of time on Etsy because I am a craft lover - I also spend a lot of time on Etsy because there are a lot of different cat related items for sale!

When I stumbled upon the Susan Faye Pet Projects page on Etsy, I was instantly in love. I adored her necklace designs that came in all different shapes, sizes and images. She is an artist and a cat lover.

"Creating art with a sense of whimsy and luscious paint-box colors is a great source of joy for me. Everything I make starts out as a watercolor painting, sometimes with pen and ink," said Susan.

The first piece of jewelry I bought from Susan was this pendant below. I liked that the girl looked like me, her black cat was on her shoulders (like my black cat Henry does sometimes) and that she was reading! All three things that were so me. It was like this charm was personalized just for me.


I really enjoyed the pendant so much, that I made quite a few more purchases after I discovered Susan's shop.

I loved the fairy girl & her cat. It reminded me of my cat May who had passed away. I always joked that for Halloween May would be a tooth fairy kitty.

These earrings are very petite and are just adorable.

I love the early bird catching the worm earrings. The blues in the image are just beautiful.

This pendant just made me smile.


I also learned that Susan does custom pendants upon request. So after our kitty May died in August 2012, I wanted to get one of Susan's beautiful pendants made to match both my mom and May. After selecting custom images and sending Susan pictures of mom and May, this gorgeous necklace charm was created: 

This pendant matches my mom's red hair and May's brown tabby look.

Susan even was able to personalize the back of the pendant for my mom. Needless to say, she loved the present!

And in this June, when our sweet little Sabrina passed away, my mom and I knew that we both wanted to get Sabrina necklaces.

The charm in the middle is mine - the brown hair girl with glasses. My mom's is on the left - with red hair. The charm to the right was for my neighbor, who let me stay with her this summer! We had her name put on the back.

And the back on my charm is my name with Sabrina's.

Susan is able to create beautiful art as jewelry, that truly captures the beauty of cats. Her jewelry wears very well and is easy to care for. Every purchase is wrapped delicately in bubble wrap inside a box suitable for gift giving.

Susan also makes and sells many other items in her Esty shop! In addition to her jewelry, she also sells catnip toys, bookmarks boxes and more!

Susan has graciously offered a coupon to my readers. Upon checkout you can enter a coupon code - Use CATCRAZY15 at checkout to receive 15% off your entire purchase, including already discounted SALE items. Offer does not include wholesale listings. Expires Sept. 14 at midnight.

Visit Susan on her blog, 365 Cat Ladies.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Review: Whiskerslist by Angie Bailey

The definition of a coffee table book according to the Dictionary: it is an oversize, expensive, and usually illustrated book suitable for displaying, as on a coffee table. This term originated in the 1960's, however it is something that is still completely relevant today. I think so many people are guilty of placing books on their coffee table that are an attempt to make them look artsy or well-read...when really they are simply a conversation piece for those visiting.

My family is certainly not ashamed of the books we choose to place on our coffee table, but we are rather quite proud! The definition of a coffee table book sounds like it might be a bad thing (oversized, expensive), but I think it's just the opposite. 



In fact, I am really excited to share with you, the latest book that will be added to our coffee table -- whiskerslist: the kitty classifieds by my friend (and author of the Catladyland blog) Angie Bailey.

whiskerslist is real too! Your cats can create their own post on whiskerslist.com! Just make sure they don't put you up for sale!

whiskerslist is a laugh out loud worthy read, that will have you rolling your eyes and thinking, "that is so my cat!"

From listings such as missing sweat sock, new nip dealers to nip interventions, there is a posting for every cat.

My two favorite listings have to be "Hellooo ladies" (pg. 31) and "Polite Jewish South Philly boy looking for likeminded travel partners" (pg. 33).

Sleek and shiny all for you!

Anybody want to travel with me to check out the dumpster?

I highly recommend whiskerslist to all the people looking to add a hysterical and well-done cat comedy book to their coffee table! I for one, am proud to sport whiskerslist on my coffee table and will share it with any cat enthusiasts who visit!

You can purchase your very own copy of whiskerslist on Amazon here and Barnes & Noble here.


Receiving a complimentary copy did not influence my review. I was not compensated for this review.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Review/Giveaway: New World's Best Cat Litter in Advanced Natural Series - aka the best litter ever.

I have to be honest, I'm always hesitant to do litter reviews. In fact, I have never done one on my blog before. Our cats have enough craziness in their lives for us to change up something that is essential to their everyday living. However, after World's Best Cat Litter reached out to me this summer about their newly formulated litter, and it sounded promising - so I thought we would give it a try.

The new litter comes in two formulas - original and pine blend.

We have never been happy with our current litter (a typical name-brand clay litter), so what was there to lose?

Well, I can tell you that it has been a good month since we started using the new Advanced Natural Series Fresh Scent formula of World's Best Cat Litter, and OH MY COD!!!!!! Paws down, the best litter ever made. I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting much from our cats, but they took to the new box within a day.

This litter is a blend of naturally absorbent plant fibers to meet customer demand for high performance clumping, says World's Best Cat Litter. Not only does this litter have an umpteenth (practically non-existent) amount of dust than our clay litter, but it scoops like a dream. The clumps don't fall apart while scooping. And I realize now, that anyone reading this might think that I'm a total weirdo for saying that, but when you scoop as frequently as I do (every day for 5 cats), you want to be using a nice, easy to scoop litter.

Just as World's Best describes the litter as having smaller, tighter clumps, absorbs more liquid, long lasting, and lighter material - is spot on. In fact, we poured a 6-lb bag of the litter into our box and it lasted for almost a month without adding more.

The pee clumps don't break apart while scooping and the scent of the poop is completely absorbed by the litter. Like they say, it really does completely eliminate the need to scrape the bottom of the litter box - which is always a problem for us. The litter box we have with this litter in it is in a prominent part of our house - a spot we pass by frequently, and it masks the smell so it's like the litter box isn't there.

The litter is 100% natural and  contains renewable ingredients and no airborne silica dust; making it safe for pets, people and the planet, says World's Best Cat Litter.

Even our 14 year old cat, Vickie, took to the new litter right away. She has only known clay litter while we've had her for the majority of her life, so the fact that she was so flexible to change is amazing. This litter box has become her box of choice!

Overall, I can't believe how much we love this litter. It really is remarkable and I'm so glad that we tried it. We are in the process of converting our current litter boxes to this brand.

Advanced Natural is offered exclusively at independent pet stores and PETCO. It comes in original and Pine Blend formulas in 6, 12 and 24 pound bags.

As you can see, the chart shows that for three cats a 6 pound bag lasting for 10+ days, but ours lasted almost a month with four cats.

I ran over to our local PETCO the other day and picked up four of the 12 pound bags. They were even on sale, could this litter get any better!?

I would recommend this litter to anyone and everyone. No matter how many cats or litter boxes you have, I think this litter is a miracle and I am absolutely enthralled to have found such a great litter for my cats.

Actually - the litter can get better, because World's Best Cat Litter has agreed to give one of my lucky readers a sample bag! Read below how to enter...

Giveaway instructions: CLOSED 

I was not compensated for this review and the sample did not influence my opinion whatsoever. In fact, I went out and bought four 12-lb bags with my own money afterwards. Thanks!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Review: Adventures in Veterinary Medicine by Ingrid King

Page after page, I found myself extremely interested in learning how someone could go from a corporate office job to being a veterinary assistant, a Reiki practitioner and ultimately, an author.


Where, you might ask, did I read such an interesting and unusual story? Adventures in Veterinary Medicine: What Working in Veterinary Hospitals Taught Me About Life, Love, and Myself by Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat Blog.

In Adventures in Veterinary Medicine, Ingrid breaks her story into nine short chapters that detail how she found her life path.

"The book offers a unique look at what really goes on in a veterinary hospital through the eyes of a former veterinary hospital manager, aka, yours truly. The book provides insight into what makes veterinary medicine such a rewarding profession through a series of stories about some of the pets I connected with during my twelve years working in the field." -Ingrid King

One chapter in particular that stood out to me was about a cat named Diesel. He had been found on the side of the road with a broken pelvis. The way he was found happens all too many times in the rescue world. Thank goodness for the few kind souls who will pull over off the road and pick up a hurt animal. 

Adventures in Veterinary Medicine is an eBook available on the Kindle. You don't need a kindle to read it - Amazon has a free reading pass for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android tablets/phones.

Ingrid is also the author of Buckley's Story and Purrs of Wisdom. You can read my review of Purrs of Wisdom here.

I definitely recommend Adventures in Veterinary Medicine to all of those who are interested in the profession or just simply love cats!