Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart™ is a TV special exploring the theme that people and pets make better lives together than apart. Here are the details:

Everyone has a tale to tell. Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart™ is a celebration of our love for our four-legged friends. Pets. Partners. Companions. They answer to many names, play many roles. But whatever we call them, one thing’s certain – they have a special place in our hearts and lives.

Last year’s show included the tales of seven individuals and their four-legged companions. We shared the stories of Debi Stevens and learned how she is honoring Buff’s legacy… Larry King, Jr. and his 40-pound cattle ranching partner Mercy… Veterinarian Curtis Brandt and Taylor… Officer Tony White and his 2 ½ year old partner, Recon… Leesia Teh whose love for Becks led to a new career… World Champion Melissa Heeter’s seven flying dogs… and traveled across the country with Greg Matulionis and his dog scout cadet, Koda.

So far this year, we’ve captured Tales in Atlanta, Seattle, Cincinnati, San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix. We’ve met surfing dogs and feline showstoppers; elephants and arson dogs; racing greyhounds and revved up bassets.

More than just a TV show

“Tales for the Pet Lover’s Heart™” is a lot of things, including a television special, activities for kids and families, Kroger shopper giveaways and special offers, all centered on the theme that people and pets make better lives together. Purina is sponsoring the program again this year throughout the 16 Kroger divisions around the country.

And this year, Purina and Kroger are doing even more! In 2009, they will contribute $150,000 to animal welfare organizations located in Kroger communities to help them feed pets waiting for their opportunity to share a better life in a permanent home

• Click here to find out when the show airs near you..

Are you as addicted to Housecat Housecall as we are? Did you just start watching this season and wish you had watched Season 1? If you are, you’re gonna be rockin’ this week’s giveaway on The Cat’s Meow: You can win a Season 1 DVD of Housecat Housecall, and it couldn’t be easier to enter.

How to Enter

Just leave a comment in the comments field of this post, describing one feline behavioral problem you’d ask Dr Katrina about if you had the chance. If your cats are purrfect, tell me what makes them that way.

Deadline

All comments entered before midnight PT, Sunday July 26 will be eligible for the drawing.

Drawing

The names of those who have submitted a comment, and who entered a valid email address will be entered in the drawing. The winner will be drawn at random from all eligible entries.

Restrictions

Only one entry per household, please.

What’s Housecat Housecall?

Housecat Housecall is the reality-based TV show for cat lovers.

Presented by Purina® Cat Chow®, the show is about real people, real cats, and real answers.

Each week, Dr. Katrina visits cat loving families and, with the help of the Housecat Housecall® mentors, Dr. Karen Sueda and Dr. Rich Goldstein, she’ll try to make some sense out of a wide range of feline puzzlers. Whether it’s just a quirky behavior or something more complex, Dr. Katrina and her team work out real solutions that help bring peace, harmony, and well-being back to the homes of cats and owners.

When’s it on?

Housecat Housecall airs Saturday at 10:30 am E/P and Sunday at 8:00 am E/P on Animal Planet.

More Info:

• Visit the Housecat Housecall website.
  
• Become a fan of Housecat Housecall on Facebook.
  
• Meet Dr Katrina Warren.

• Wrestling with a behavioral problem? Ask a Cat Chow mentor!

Hey evrybuddy, Skeezix heer.

Last week, a vary special Catster was feechered on Animal Cops Philadelphia in a segment that demunstrates the healing power of love. Millie is a terrific orange tabby who neerly didn’t make it past her ferst year. Heer is her arrival story from her Catster profile:

Millie was dumped at the city shelter with a grapefruit size tumor, pregnant and losing hair. Her former family told them to ‘kill her’.

They contacted Mommy’s work to report it as cruelty/neglect case. Millie had mammary gland hyperplasia, and an infection all through her. She had sepsis, her complete torso area’s skin ‘peeled off’, leaving her with the last layer protecting her. Millie wasn’t expected to live. At 1.5 years old, she only weighed 4 lbs. Mommy hand-fed her (b/c she wouldnt eat) and stayed with her at night when she thought Millie wasn’t going to make it. After weeks of intensive medical treatment, we were able to take her home for foster. By this time, Millie and Mommy were in love and the whole family was invested in her getting better. One night, Mommy noticed that the area where her top right nipple WOULD have been, was leaking what looked like Elmer’s glue. She had emergency surgery to remove strings of mammary glands (at this point, she could sustain being under for surgery).Our family kept extensive medical logs, charting Millie’s progress. Millie has made a FULL recovery, more than doubled her weight, and is friends with every kitty in the house!! She is playful and sweet and talks to everyone who wants to have a conversation!

Skeezix: How it is possible that someone treeted yoo so badly? Why wood they do such a thing?
Millie: Mommy says people that do these things are missing pieces of their hearts. She says that people who actively hurt animals are evil but that people who just don’t care of their babies are dumb-dumbs. I have to agree with her. I don’t know HOW the people could have acted like they didn;t see the tumor on me. It was the size of a grapefruit and I only weighed about 4 lbs.

Skeezix: Yer story is vary hartbraking. Were the peepul hoo were so awful to yoo ever charged with animul cruelty?
Millie: My mommy went to the court hearing, just to give them the stink eye! They were charged with failure to provide veterinary care, charged court fees and given 25 hours of community service. Not enough, if you ask me.

Skeezix: How long is it sinse yoo were rescued frum that bad sitchuation?
Millie: I was brought into the PSPCA hospital on February 27, 2008 and came to live with my family as a foster the end of May of that year. I was adopted officially about 3 weeks later.

Skeezix: Have yoo recovered fully, or do yoo still reqwire daily care?
I have fully recovered, after having a second surgery (they showed the first surgery on air).

Skeezix: Yoo have a huge famly! Do yoo have a best frend, yet?
Millie: We do have a big family, but the house has 3.5 floors, not including our basement, so it doesn’t seem so big (that is, unless you are cleaning the litterbox, Mommy says!!)

My best friend in our home is Mommy, for sure, but my best sibling is probably Jake Oscar Beckett, our Jakey. He’s an orangie like me, ‘cept he has CH (cerebellar hypolplasia), which makes him move a little funny. I helped him when he came into out family. I also am very fond of Flurry, my other CH brother. I don’t mind when he pecks my nose with his, even if sometimes, its a whole lot harder than I would like. I hold his head still with my paw and clean his face and ears for him. I like everyone and get along well with all! My brother Rosey has a particular fondness for me and always kisses me!

Skeezix:Did yer mom know whut she was getting into when she took over yer care?
Millie: Mommy says she never once gave it a second thought. She said it wouldn’t have mattered what needed to be done. She said she was glad that she was asked to help me while I was still in the hospital.

Skeezix: What’s the long-term prognosis for yoo and yer helth?
Millie: I have no long term effects from the tumors now that they have been removed. Once they combatted the sepsis through me, I was good to go.

Skeezix: Whut was it like being filmed for animal cops?
Millie: I don’t remember too much of the filming when my tumor burst or during surgery, but while they were here in my house, it was neat! At first, I wasn;t too crazy about that camera thingy, but you get used to it after a short time and you forget the crew is there. They didn’t clip a mic to me, only Mommy and Daddy, so that was good, too!

Skeezix: Can yoo tell us a little about the PSPCA?
Millie: The PSPCA has been around for over 140 years! There are lots of good people there who really want to make a difference for all animals. They have the largest single Humane Police Department in the country. My mom is the special events coordinator there and she take adoptable animals to different events and activities in the greater Philly area. She’s taken dogs and cats to the PA Ballet, Phillies games, and even the Animal Planet Pet Expo. There is an animal hospital, including an ICU and ER care along with a general vet service at the shelter. They offer dog obedience classes as well as Good Canine Citizenship training and testing.

Skeezix: Is it troo that orange cats rool?
Millie: I think orangies rule, of course, but I have so many different brothers and sisters, I think we’re all cool! And judging by the great friends I’ve made on Catster, I’d have to say CATS RULE in general!!!

Skeezix: How’d yoo git yer name?
Millie: My name used to be Consuelo. Mommy changed it to Millie while I was in the ICU. She said that I needed to NOT have the name associated with the people who allowed this to happen to me. She chose Millie because it means “Mild Strength” but also because it is short for Emiliana. Emiliana is in honor of Beloved Angel Amelia on Catster.

Skeezix: Yoo were SO sick! What was yer secret to surviving evrything yoo went through?
Millie: Mommy says the one story that makes her eyes wet everytime is when I had turned the corner with the infection, one of the vets told mom: “You know, Millie is nothing short of a miracle. You had everything to do with that.” Mom replied, “No, Doc, that was her fight. It was always up to her.” The doctor touched mom’s arm and said “You gave her love. You gave her a reason to fight.”

Skeezix (dabbing his eyes with a hanky): Oh, my goodness, whut a way to end the interview. Thank yoo so much Millie, for taking the time to talk to The Cat’s Meow. I hope yoo have a long and happy life.
Millie: Thank you for the interview, Skeezix! For those of you who missed seeing me on Animal Cops, here’s the segment!

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