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09/22/09
Today, as part of our ongoing series of profiles of Cat Lady Artists, I’m interviewing Shelagh Duffet of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s hard to find one of Shelagh’s paintings that doesn’t have a cat somewhere within it. Her brilliant colors and primitive style portray a whimsical landscape that can’t help but make the viewer smile… and consider moving to Nova Scotia.
 Karen: Shelagh, tell me a bit about the cats in your life and how they influence your work.
Shelagh: The funny thing about my work is that when I first really started painting cats, I only had a big Rhodesian Ridgeback dog named Sequoia. I do love cats and growing up, we had two Siamese cats named Topaz and Gigi. Topaz was the classic round, purry and motherly kind of cat, while Gigi was thin, neurotic and meowly. They both lived to be grand old dames. Our dog Sequoia passed away a few years ago and we now have Monty, a lovely large tabby cat who is my constant companion. Even as I sit here, he is trying to fit into my lap and as big cat, it is not an easy task!
 Karen: I can relate! I have a 20-lb. tabby who has no idea how big he is. Have you always been a cat person?
Shelagh: Yes, I have. I do love cats but I love dogs too. Hard to choose between the two because they are so different.
Karen: Do you use Monty very often as a model in your work?
Shelagh: I’ve only painted Monty once. He’s the subject of Twilight Cat (right).
Karen: What inspired you to become an artist and sell your work?
Shelagh: I am self taught as an artist. I used to be a film editor and later a producer/director, so I have always worked with images. Even as a child I sketched a lot. When my daughter was born, I stayed home to look after her and wanted to find something I could do from home to earn money. Ebay was just coming online and I tried it to sell my art, was successful and still use it! I picked painting up ten years ago seriously and have not looked back since.
Karen: Have you always lived in Nova Scotia? Does it influence you?
Shelagh: I have spent most of my life in Nova Scotia.  I lived in Toronto for a bit and Bermuda and have traveled extensively, but Nova Scotia is the place I come back to. It is a gorgeous province and Halifax where I live is just the perfect size. There are six Universities here and it is a Naval and shipping centre, so it has a vibrant and ever changing culture. I do lots of landscape pictures of Nova Scotia. It is so colorful and full of life.
Karen: Have you always used the brilliant, saturated “happy” colors in your work, or did that style evolve over time?
Shelagh: I am drawn to bright and happy colors. They lift my spirits and make me feel good. I have always painted with them. Occasionally I have ventured into pastels but always return to the color! Bright colors are like a big smile, you want to smile back!
Karen: Your grandmother, Alice, was part of the inspiration  for the name of your shop. How has she influenced you?
Shelagh: I spent many weeks staying with my Grandmother in Scotland when growing up. She was an extraordinary woman. Small and feisty. My grandfather was a sea captain and away a lot. they had a small apartment when starting out in the bottom of a large set of flats across form a school. She decided to start a sweetie shop out of their home and eventually bought the entire building. One candy at a time, much to my Grandfather’s surprise. She was quite the business woman and I am inspired by her.
Karen: Of the work that’s currently for sale in your shop, which is your favorite?
Shelagh: Gosh, I have many favorites and they change constantly. I do like “All is Well”,” Twilight Cat”, “White House Lighthouse” and “Sunset Cottage”
Karen: You appear to be amazingly prolific! How many pieces do you paint per week?
Shelagh: It changes from week to week but I always manage to paint one to three at the very least. It is a matter of discipline. Just like going to work everyday. One doesn’t always feel like it but it has to be done. I find that once I sit, the ideas come to me and it is easy to get going, the more you do, the easier the inspiration:)
Karen: In addition to doing acrylic paintings, you’re also a photographer. Which do you prefer?
Shelagh: I prefer photography because it is so instant. Beauty is all around us and with one flick of the finger it can be captured. I find that when I have a camera in my hands,  I look at the world with different eyes.
Karen: You also do corporate graphics, like the labels for Robbie’s Sauces.
Shelagh: Yes, I have done work for clients who have discovered me on the internet and it is always such a nice surprise. The internet has been responsible for the success I have!
Karen: I wish you continued success! Thanks for taking the time to chat with The Cat’s Meow.
Prints of Shelagh’s cat paintings can be found at Alice in Paris. Her prints are very affordable; most are only $20. You’ll also find her delightful Alice in Paris blog and other gallery sites on the web:
Her photography is available at the Love Me Boutique on Birmingham Street in Halifax NS.
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05/16/09
 Lost for ten months, 4-1/2-year-old Jack the Cat is finally back home with his owner, Vickie van Dyke.
“I think he’s an adventurer,” said van Dyke. “But he must have something missing when it comes to navigation.”
Last year, after returning from a few days at a cottage, van Dyke said she found Jack anxious to get outside. “I let him out thinking he would go out and come back,” she said. “That was it. He went out, and didn’t come back.”
She reported the lost cat to the Guelph (Ontario, Canada) Humane Society. Weeks, then months passed, but no Jack. “The humane society would call and ask if he was back every month,” van Dyke said. Each time, she told them she wanted to keep him on their lost pets list.
At the end of April, Jack was found, more than 10 kilometers from van Dyke’s home. A person who thought Jack looked sick brought him to the Guelph Humane Society. Despite appearances, the shelter gave Jack a clean bill of health.
Last Friday, van Dyke received a phone call from the cat kennel supervisor at the humane society. She told van Dyke, “We have a cat here. He’s orange, but we don’t think he’s yours.” The humane society first thought the cat was about 10 years old, but upon closer inspection, estimated him around five.
Three people who were missing male, orange, declawed, neutered cats were contacted, and two of those were eliminated over the phone. Having been through one false alarm with a different orange tabby, Van Dyke send the humane society a photo of Jack. Soon afterward, she got a call indicating that there might be a possible match. When van Dyke saw him, she “knew right away.” The Humane Society “was blown away because they didn’t believe that after 10 months I would get my cat back,” she said.
Along with having his shots updated, Jack is also going to have a microchip implanted for future identification. “He has taken off before, sometimes for a couple of days,” she said. Two years ago, he was found on the other side of a busy Expressway.
Jack is now settling back in at home. While he was away, van Dyke got a dog. “They’re best friends,” she said.
By the way, we’re happy Jack’s back home, but keep in mind you should never allow declawed cats outside. And if your cat, like Jack, is prone to wander, keep him indoors, or install cat fencing.
[LINK/PHOTO: The Record]
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04/25/09
 Inspired by the best selling book, “Dewey—the Small Town Library Cat that Touched the World,” the town of Ponoka in Alberta, Canada, is holding a vote to see if the community will agree to support a cat in the town library.
The “Dewey” book is the true story of a librarian who found a cat in the libarary’s drop-off box on a freezing cold night and adopted it as the library’s pet.
Norma-Jean Colquhour, manager, says that the relationship between cats and libraries are well established in folklore and history and believes that the library would benefit from the presence of a cat. “We’re all cat lovers on staff,” said Colquhour. “I think it would be neat and that people would love to be greeted by a cat when they come in.”
She also says that many people living in seniors’ residences are not permitted to have a pet and that they would be able to visit the cat at the library. The library is putting feelers in the community to see if the idea leaves the community’s residents purring or hissing.
“We’re asking for people to vote on this idea,” said Colquhour. “We’re not saying we’re going to get one, we just want to know what people think right now.”
If the library did get a cat, Colquhour says that they would be rescuing one, and that there would be no responsibility for maintainance from the community but that there would be a “kitty” to help take care of the cat.
If they get a cat, the library will give the cat a literary name, and will serve as the library’s mascot and greeter.
“It would be a nice, warm, furry presence,” said Colquhour.
Anyone visiting the library can vote by checking the yes or no box on the ballots at the front desk.
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02/07/09
 In Toronto Canada this week, Domina the Cat is being considered for an award to acknowledge her life-saving actions in alerting her owner to a fire and saving three lives in the process. “We are looking at some sort of recognition,” Fire Capt. Mike Strapko said, adding he has to do a little research to determine what kind of award Domina would be eligible for. “We’ve never given an award to an animal before.”
A quick-thinking Domina alerted her owner, Rob Smits, to the 3-alarm blaze that was spreading through the walls of his roominghouse from the vacant house next door. Smits called 911 and woke up fellow tenants Sean Conway and Peter Lam. Once everybody was out of the house, Smits darted back inside to rescue Domina, who broke free outside and ran away.
The 20-lb bundle of love was found later hiding under a neighbor’s porch. A very happy Smits went to the Animal Services shelter to be reunited with Domina. “This cat has given me a lot of joy,” Smits said. “I feel great.”
Smits, who volunteers four to five days a week at the Parkdale Community Food Bank, escaped with only the clothes on his back and Domina. The only photo he has of his birth mother was destroyed in the fire.
Smits was adopted at an early age, and said he shares a “mutual history” with Domina because she was bounced around the Toronto Humane Society shelter before finding a furever home with him.
Sadly, Smits can’t take Domina home because he doesn’t yet have one. Ecuhome has set him up with temporary housing but Smits doesn’t yet know if any of the other tenants are allergic to cats, so Domina can’t join him until those details are hammered out.
If he is unable to take Domina to his new home, he’ll put her up with a friend until he finds his own place. He promised Domina that she wouldn’t have to stay in the shelter longer than a week — if that.
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12/14/08
There have been quite a few new boutique pet food companies that have emerged in the wake of recent pet food recall scandals. The following is an article about a personal chef in Ontario, Canada, who has expanded her line to include pet food. There wasn’t enough information to determine if this is a valid concept — this pet food is based on people food, which will not fulfill a pet’s dietary requirements, some common people foods can be lethal to cats, and neither Chapman nor Fraser has a veterinary background — but if I had the money to do it, I would love to have a purrsunal cat chef to give my cats a fresh, safe, alternative to processed pet foods. I think all of us sometimes wonder if it’s just a matter of time before our cats’ favorite brand shows up on a recall list.
Anyway, here’s the article from the Town Crier online:
Bringing trust back to pet food
By Kelly Gadzala
For cat and dog owners, “people food” means a mouthful.
It’s the stuff we often feel iffy about feeding our pets, but it’s also the stuff we’ll let fall from the dinner table when our four-legged pals are begging for burgers.
Personal chef Tabitha Chapman can relate. The owner of the Riverdale-based meal delivery and catering company Enjoy Not Cooking wasn’t so sure about feeding cats and dogs people food. She says clients used to ask her to prepare “a little something” for their pets when she’d drop off their meals. But she’d always say no.
A former non-pet person, Chapman is now making Shepherd’s Pie for her new cat Isabella as the co-owner of the new Trust Pet Cuisine, a personal chef service for cats and dogs. It’s the same food she and colleague and chef Jorge Portecarreo make for their human clients at their Eastern Ave. kitchen, only with less spice and seasoning, she says.
However, test kitty Isabella wasn’t so sure at first.
“Weeding her off the bad stuff was a trial,” Chapman says. But now Isabella looks and acts healthier and happier, she says. “Even her attitude reflected the food she ate.”
 PARTNERS IN KITTY CUISINE: Karen Fraser, left, and Tabitha Chapman whoop it up over a fresh batch of cat food. The pair created meals for cats and dogs using people food as its base. Chapman didn’t seriously consider making people food for pets until approached a year ago by Karen Fraser, author of Women Like Me, The Women’s Business & Networking Directory and known for her entrepreneurial leadership and volunteer initiatives.
Fraser had been making meals for her brood of cats since the March 2007 Menu Foods pet food recall but was finding the process of preparing and cooking meat and vegetables time-consuming. She was looking for a personal chef and partner and found it when interviewing Chapman for a Women Like Me profile.
While Fraser says they aren’t bashing an entire industry of pet food makers — she admits there’s good pet food on the market — she does say some pet foods contain nasty byproducts.
Trust meals are delivered fresh or frozen and don’t contain processed food products, preservatives, or byproducts, she says. There’s an organic line, and a lesser-priced premium line containing whatever additives found in the people food it’s made from.
Fraser researched for a year and consulted with several animal experts before Chapman developed the recipes with Portecarreo. While researching Fraser had to be critical of what some experts were saying when they recommended certain foods for pets.
“I thought, ‘Would I eat that?’”
“We take everything with a grain of substitute salt,” she says of the nutritional benefits of certain ingredients, as research inevitably changes. She notes oat bran was going to save the planet 10 years ago and now no one talks about it.
Even so, Fraser and Chapman plan to keep abreast of the current trends and adapt recipes to reflect new findings. They don’t do nutritional testing on their food though Fraser says it’s 100 percent nutritious.
Meanwhile in the vet community, there’s “a general silence with notable exceptions.”
“They don’t want to know,” she adds, noting veterinarians make a lot of money off pet food.
Her vet doesn’t approve of what she’s doing, Fraser adds, but then when the vet saw one of her kitten’s coats, she commented on its silkiness.
“I think she’s conflicted.”
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11/08/08
 The Ontario SPCA is probing a case of a cat who miraculously survived a 17-story fall from a building in Mississauga, Canada. The cat was bruised and suffered a number of broken teeth, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Cats have been known to plunge from great heights and land on their feet. But 17 floors up is almost always fatal. This was one lucky cat.
No one is sure how it happened. Building supe Daniel Ambaye was cleaning out an empty apartment Monday when he found the abandoned cat. When he returned to the unit with some food for the animal, the frightened feline jumped up onto a window ledge, perilously close to the edge.
“I backed out of the room slowly,” Ambaye told The Sun. “This cat didn’t know me. I didn’t want to startle it.” A few seconds later, he heard a screeching sound as the cat either fell or jumped from the window. He rushing to the ground floor, where he found the animal, bleeding from the mouth and “a little dazed.” He called authorities. “Bleeding was coming and she was not moving,” Daniel Ambaye recalled. “She was in bad, bad shape.” She was clutching branches from a tree used to break her fall.
Even veteran animal lovers are astonished. “This is a very unusual story and a remarkable cat,” said Ontario SPCA Chief Inspector Hugh Coghill. “In my 30 years of service I have never heard of a cat falling this far and surviving.”
The cat is recovering well and eating again. She underwent dental surgery Friday. She’s been named “Prima Bella” by the shelter staff.
Watch video here
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10/20/08
 Smokey the Cat is home with his guardian, Denise Bilowus, after having been missing for seven years.
When Bilowus got the text message from her niece, she stared at her cellphone in disbelief, although she’d always held out hope that Smokey, who disappeared in April 2002, would one day be returned to her. She even made sure that her phone number remained the same whenever she moved so that the animal services could contact her. No one knows where Smokey has been in the interim, and Smokey isn’t talking.
Animal services personnel were able to trace Smokey to Bilowus because of a small tattoo on his ear. Bilowus said Smokey’s journey is testament to the benefits of marking your pets with permanent identification via a tattoo, a microchip, or both.
Jennifer Smith of Delton Veterinary Hospital says, (for microchipped pets) “… as long as the owner is really diligent and makes sure (they know) which company their pet is registered with … (they’re) covered throughout Edmonton and internationally.” The downside is that because the chips lie beneath the animal’s skin, the person who finds it cannot immediately identify it as a stray, and the animal must be scanned to get a reading on the chip. “I still say, get your pet tattooed,” adds Smith.
Bilowus is taking no chances. Smokey now has a microchip as well.
Source: cnews.canoe.ca
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10/18/08
 The Hinchsliff family in Chemainus, British Columbia is thrilled to have their cat, Archie, back in the fold after being missing for six months.
Born on April Fool’s Day, Archie was the sole blackie among three snow white littermates. Always outspoken, he was named after Archie Bunker of All in the Family fame. (Look at that face! This cat has CATitude!)
Archie was lost six months ago after sneaking into a pickup and hitching a ride down the Trans Canada Highway. The driver let him out near Duncan when he was discovered.
It wasn’t the first time Archie has gone missing. Two years ago, Archie vanished in a snowstorm, but found his way home a month later.
The family searched for months near Duncan, but to no avail. One day last week, a “really strong urge” led Carol Hinchsliff to check the Duncan animal shelters one more time. At the second one, Archie was waiting for her. Hinchsliff said, “He’s a black cat who has the best luck in the world. If he ever does go outside (now), he has a leash.”
Sounds like Archie is grounded for life.
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10/04/08
Sylvester, a cat who decided to hit the road for one last big adventure earlier this year, has gone to the Rainbow Bridge at the age of 17.
Sylvester made headlines earlier this summer when he disappeared from his Myrtle Beach, SC home on June 15, and was found on Aug 22 in a parking lot in Montreal, 1700 km away.
Owner Janet Nease believes Sylvester was lured by the smell of barbeque at a nearby campground, and hitched a ride with a vacationing Quebec family. When word got out of Sylvester’s plight, donations flooded in from across Canada for Sylvester’s vet bills, and to ensure that Nease and Sylvester could be reunited. A Montreal woman drove Nease all the way to New Jersey where Nease and Sylvester hitched a ride home with friends.
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10/02/08
In Winnipeg, Canada, D’Arcy’s A.R.C. (Animal Rescue Centre) held a grand opening of its new 7000 sq. ft. facility on Saturday. The shelter prides itself on the grass roots donations from passionate supporters that made this new facility possible. Volunteers donated a combined 10,000 hours of labor in the last two months to get the state-of-the-art shelter up and running.
The facility boasts five spacious cat apartments with high-tech ventilation systems and bedding and furniture guaranteed to provide happy naps and sweet dreams. At the opening, long-time shelter cats Boris and Natalie (a brother and sister pair) made themselves at home, purring and relaxing in the luxe surroundings. A separate enclosure houses FIV-positive cats.
A.R.C. owner D’Arcy Johnston’s penchant for stockpiling cats dates back to his days as an animal health technician in an emergency clinic. One year, he brought home 30 cats, prompting his wife to insist that something had to go. He changed careers, and now runs the largest no-kill shelter in Western Canada.
Read the article in the Winnepeg Sun.
Check out available cats on Petfinder.
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