I Got My CapyCoppy!

Ever since reading Capyboppy by Bill Peet when she was little, Girl wanted a capybara. So when we joined twitter and met @CaplinROUS she was super excited. Caplin's website, www.gianthamster.com has all sorts of great pictures and blog posts and answers to questions about capybaras. 

Caplin the Capybara passed away quite suddenly on January 4th. Everyone who knew him was deeply saddened and his owner is devastated.

But you can have your own little Caplin--or capycoppy, anyway--and by purchasing one, you help Caplin's person set up a charity in Caplin's name, the ROUS Foundation for Capybara Veterinary Medicine.

Good Bye, Sweet Piru

I found out that my sweet, dear friend @PiruloFurry passed away in his sleep this morning.

He was very loved by his family and his Twitter pals. I know that he and Inigo Flufflebum are likely a big hit with all the ladycats OTRB with their most angelic of angel cat faces, but for now I am just very sad.

Christmas Report

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. For my pals that don't celebrate it, I hope you had a great day and happy holidays.

It was the Debil Kittehs' first Christmas. They didn't think much of the presents, but they really liked the wrapping paper wilderness fort and have played in it for hours. Then napped in it for hours. Then played it in it again. We're now on Day 2 and they're back to napping in it.

Girl wasn't going to do presents for us this year because we really do have plenty of stuff. However, at the last minute she caved and got a few things. Normally she would buy things from our pals' stores like dogtoys.com, cattoys.com, or nipandbones.com. But she got stuff from Amazon this time because she gets free 2-day shipping and she left it til the last possible second.

Ein eats a lot and fast, so after careful research she got him this DogPause bowl

The cats (and the rest of us, because we share) got this fancy-schmancy fountain. Part of the reason she chose this one is because a) people seemed to really like it; b) it holds a lot of water which is good because we dogs drink a lot; c) she figured if we hated it, it's pretty enough she could use it as a water feature at her office.

And then for Wickie's sore joints, she got this special raised feeder. I think maybe Wickie was expecting treats or toys or something because she didn't seem very excited about it and I think it kind of hurt the Girl's feelings (Wickie got a shorter one than in the picture, of course)

What did I get? Well, I have lots of toys. And I get lots of treats. So instead of buying me something, we decided to use my Christmas budget for #pawpawty donations. But I did get lovely cards from a lot of pals and I did get a present or two from them. :)

So that is my official Christmas Report...Maximus Claus, over and out til next year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our furry family to yours!

Lucy

We need a little help here, pals. There is a sweet, gentle 10-year-old Samoyed named Lucy in the Salt Lake City area of Utah that needs a loving home. @BadAndy_KityKat's mom used to take care of her on occasion and would LOVE to keep her for good, but because of bad allergies and a tiny yard (and a few other things) she can't give Lucy a home no matter how much she'd like to. So instead, BadAndy and his mom are trying to do the next best thing and find Lucy a great home.

If you or anyone you know is interested in Lucy, please contact @BadAndy_KityKat or contact me via twitter (@BlindMaximus) and I will connect you with Andy. In the meantime, please blog/tweet about Lucy and get the word out there!

Santa's Naughty & Nice List

This holiday season, anipals make finding fun, unique gifts easier than ever! The list is pretty long but even if you're only "browsing" please please look at the whole list. Thanks! :)

Zazzle/Cafepress
http://www.zazzle.com/zackrabbit Get all your Cooking with Rabbits merchandise here, along with some of Zackary's "spicier" items! Watch out for his "carrot"!

http://www.zazzle.com/mattiedadog Home of Shibbering Cheetos paraphernalia and gifts supporting the MattieDog Foundation

http://www.zazzle.com/theoreticallyawesome because every jet-setting anipal should have his or her own shirt to get through airport security

http://www.zazzle.com/javathecat is where you can find all the past & present #pawpawty swag with profits going to the current #pawpawty charity

http://www.zazzle.com/boriskitty and http://www.cafepress.com/BorisRescued for your very own piece of BorisKitty!

http://www.cafepress.com/smpab the store for Winging Cat Rescue, "a licensed Rescue and a 501C3 non-profit organization that rely strictly on donations.We have rescued over 1200 Cats & kittens since our inception.100% of proceeds from Cafe Press products will go directly to Vetting & Sponsoring low-cost Spay Neuter Clinics."

http://www.zazzle.com/bohopets the place to get your JazzydaCat "norty step" merchandise designed by CokietheCat's mom!

http://www.cafepress.com/midgeshop All things MidgetheMutt!

http://www.zazzle.com/cheshirek products based on the book Please Send Money by Cheshire Kitten

Etsy
http://www.trinlayk.etsy.com from Megumi & Seimei: "We help our main human make fiber art, mostly plushies, but also purses, wearables, and stuff for dolls. mostly it's natural fibers like alpaca, wool, and of course there's almost always a little cat hair mixed in!"

http://HyperspaceHippo.etsy.com belongs to the mom of GromekCat and CapnPeanutZilla "It is just a hobby for her at this point, although she's wanting to expand it! Her sells jewelry and beaded bookmarks."

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Whskr @Whskr and her sidekick @DashKitten have a variety of things for sale including custom pet pendants

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NoCrybabyDoGs by Daffy's mom has a ton of cards and artwork to choose from! Custom orders too!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/elineof I have one of Elineof & Berkeley's Woolly Teds; his brothers would make perfect presents that give smiles all year long.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/smilingfrogpets by CowtailChewToys has clothes, toys, and recycled toys too!

Jewelry
www.puppylovejewelry.com Puppy says, "I make handcrafted crystal and gemstone jewelry, sell crystals/stones alone for meditation, and will soon be carrying some handmade lip balms and candles :) (it is an ebay store, but all handmade things by me)"

http://www.crystalsandjewelry.com GeorgetheDuck's persons website full of crystals, stones, and great metaphysical jewelry

http://www.silkenpaw.net/cats/mizzbassie Not just jewelry...PET jewelry! Beautiful pieces by the lovely MizzBassie.

http://www.facebook.com/PurpleFroggyCreations Purple_Froggy sells jewelry to support her family

Art
http://bztat.com Pieces for charity, custom pet portraits AND gift certificates too! Painted lovingly by BrewskieButt's person Bztat.

http://pasikas.weebly.com these silk scarves painted by Pasikas are truly works of art!

www.zaziart.net for custom pet portraits

http://bohopets.com/ for pet portraits and Christmas cards by CokietheCat's mom

Stores
http://www.dougalsden.co.uk A store for our UK pals by our very own super sweet FrugalDougal!

http://www.nipandbones.com I hear BabyPatches tests and approves all the merchandise personally!

http://www.cattoys.com and http://www.dogtoys.com be sure to check out these sites by BorisKitty...even if it's just for the hot models!

http://www.petdogshop.info by Angela & Lucy

www.shop.bearmani.com by SnuffyNorton. Snuffy might already be overbooked for Christmas commissions, but his bears (and their clothes) make great gifts all year round! Cat toys too!

http://www.luandcoco.com for all your organic dog grooming essentials!

http://www.dogchowcookies.com/  this UK store offers hand-made dog snacks with care and simple fresh ingredients, with no preservatives especially for your Best Friend. All @dogchowcookies are fresh-baked with no added preservatives, chemicals, salt or sugar.



http://www.thesassytraveler.com/ the stylish luggage store belonging to BuzzLucas's mom

http://www.debandco.com/c-73-pets.aspx  "made by hand, given from the heart" cute ornaments and figurines from Crazy_Felix's mom

http://shop.ebay.com/motorpurrr/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340   Great deals on toys & hobbies at TinyPearlCat's mom's ebay store

This isn't really a "store", but http://www.teenysfriends.com/ (@TeenysFriends on twitter) has a great one-for-one toy program: buy a toy from them and they donate a toy to a needy dog too! It's a feel-good bargain all around!

Books
Precious has two books: "The Adventures of Precious the Dog: Precious and Lizie PLay Hide and Seek" and book two "The Adventures of Precious the Dog: Precious and the Rabbits Run and Hop." They can be purchased from her etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/imajackrussell or Amazon. Great gifts for little kids!

"Welcom to My Werld" by HenryandFriends. Be sure to check out the rave reviews!

"Summer at the Lake With Petie" by Pumpkinpuddy. Visit her blog for more info about the book and Duncan's Place, the charity benefiting from the book sales.

"Please Send Money" by CheshireK. I won this book as a pawpawty prize and it is cute and full of great pictures. It says on the back "Cheshire Kitten will use the proceeds of this book to feed all of his friends, both in the house and outside." You can get matching merchandise at http://www.zazzle.com/cheshirek

"The Zen of Max" by MaxtheQuiltCat a "memoir of great wisdom and many naps."

"Homer's Odyssey" the New York Times by HomerBlindCat's person Gwen Cooper

"Dozer the Destructor" written and illustrated by Houston Keys. A great kid's book about the responsibility of owning a pet. Dozer the Destructor matching merchandise available here.

Other/Charities 
I also want to include this link to the Anipal Times. Lexie put it together and is a nice compilation of some animal charities in the UK for anyone in or buying a gift for someone in the UK. :)

http://www.santapawsdrive.com is a virtual toy drive for shelter pets. Donate cash or gifts to help shelter animals have a merry Christmas.

http://michellescats.chipin.com/supplies-for-the-sanctuary is a small cat sanctuary operated by FuzzyMice from twitter


Alright, here's the list so far. If I've left anyone off, please let me know ASAP and I'll update this page.

A Request

I know many people don't even like thinking of Christmas when it's not even Thanksgiving yet (well, I guess my pals here in the States are the only ones) but I have a little request and I like to get things done at least somewhat on time...

There are a lot of anipals out there with stores-etsy, Zazzle, cafepress, etc. Some of these sales go to charity, some are the sole income for the humans involved, some are for fun.

So I thought it might be nice, as kind of a one-stop-shop, to do a blog post that lists ALL (okay, as many as possible) the anipal store sites so if other pals would like to buy from them for the holidays (or other occasions) everything is in one nice little place.

What I'd like from you is if you have a store or would like to nominate one, please leave the name & link in the comments OR you can email me at blindmaximus@gmail.com.

I'd like to have my post compiled & published by the first weekend in December...so let's get linking!