Carolina Sunshine

There's nothing like a Carolina Sunbeam to brighten your day!  Truffle is a little pensive today because Mom Paula is still away and even a warm sun puddle can't cheer her up.

Come home soon, Mom Paula

This photo was taken last week when Truffle's eye infection started so the sunshine bothered her eyes so she didn't look up like she normally does.  Mom Paula is hoping Truffle will be back to her bright-eyed self when she returns today.

PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy Giveaway

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy by completing categories on the Rafflecopter widget.  One day left to enter!

Playing and Eating - A Chewy Review

We were thrilled to receive a double treat from chewy.com this month for our review.  We were sent a KONG Active Cat Play Mat and the BFF Variety Pack canned food.

KONG Active Cat Play Mat

Image courtesy of chewy.com

The KONG Active Cat Play Mat has two sides:  a soft plush side for sleeping and a sisal side for scratching.  A unique thing about the mat is that the middle is filled with material that makes a crinkle sound, so it gets our attention when we walk on it.

Brulee waiting for Mom Paula to turn around before getting on the mat

The mat comes folded in a sleeve, so when you open it, it isn't very flat because of the internal material.  Mom Paula put some heavy books on top of it to try to flatten it for us.  This could be a design flaw with the packaging, but it doesn't deter from the fun we had on it.  We weren't very cooperative with Mom Paula for the photo shoots this month.  Everytime we'd get on the mat and Mom Paula would grab the camera, we'd move around or get off.  Truffle was so comfortable on the mat that she brought her toys in the living room with her to enjoy playing on the mat with her toys.  If you have a kitty that may be a little resistant to getting on the mat, you can sprinkle some catnip on it and it should work.

Truffle checking out the smells of the mat

BFF Variety Pack Canned Food

Brulee modeling the BFF Variety Pack Canned Food

We've tried the BFF Cat food in the past in the pouches and really liked them.  We were very interested in trying the BFF canned food because of the quality and taste of the previous food we've eaten.  What's really nice about this package is that you are able to try four different varieties (Tuna Too Cool, Tuna & Pumpkin Valentine, Tuna & Salon, and Tuna & Chicken 4Eva) to decide which you like the best before buying a big case of one food.  Mom Paula likes to alternate our cat food flavors and brands so we don't become too finicky.

Truffle anticipating the delicious flavors of the BFF Canned food

The B.F.F. canned food is grain-free and made in a human food facility.  B.F.F. is made by Weruva, which is one of our favorite brands of cat food because of the natural ingredients used to make the food.  Mom Paula doesn't give us tuna on a regular basis, but this food is so healthy and delicious that she will give it to us once a week in between our feather-diet food (chicken, turkey, and duck).  All we know is that we like this food.  You can't go wrong with anything made by Weruva.

Brulee says, "Yum, Yum"

We received the BFF cat food and KONG Play Mat free from chewy.com and were not compensated for our review.  Our opinions are our own and we stand by them.  

Wordless Wednesday

Brulee

PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy Giveaway

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win a PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy.  Just complete the entries on the Rafflecopter widget by visiting here.

Blog Hop

Grandma Faye is Back Again

It's that time again!  Mom Paula had to travel out of town for a business meeting, so Grandma Faye is back checking on us.  We love for her to come over because she gives us lots of treats.  Grandma Faye has never had a cat and her woofie, Bandit, is the first dog she's ever had as a pet.  She's been around us since we were little kittens (in fact, she went down to Mom Terri's house to visit us before we even came to live with Mom Paula), so she's more comfortable with us and will pet us and pick us up.  Mom Paula thinks it's really funny because Grandma Faye doesn't like cleaning the litter box, yet she will pick up Bandit's poop with a plastic bag.  Go figure...

Truffle reaching up for a treat while Brulee waits patiently for hers

Truffle's Vet Visit

Truffle went back to the vet yesterday because she was squinting a lot since being on the Terramycin last week.  Mom Paula was really nervous about leaving us today because of Truffle's eye infection and was afraid Truffle would need more medication in her eye and she knew Grandma Faye wouldn't be able to do it.  Mom Paula was unable to reach our back up pet sitter and no one at the veterinary hospital was available.  We are so thankful to report that the vet thought the squinting was a side effect of the medication.  She said Truffle's eye looked good and to stop giving her the medication.  However, if Mom Paula gets back at the end of the week and there are still problems to bring her back and a ophthalmologist specialist would look at her eye.  This time Mom Paula took Brulee along to see if it would make a difference in the hissy fits after a visit.  Brulee was so relaxed that while Truffle was being examined, Brulee climbed in the scale and took a nap.  Mom Paula was so worried today that she didn't even get any photos.

Cheese Cat Toy Giveaway

Don't forget to visit here to enter for a chance to win a PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy.  The giveaway will end Saturday, August 1.  Just complete the required categories on the Rafflecopter widget (there are opportunities for additional entries once those are completed).

PetSafe Cheese Cat Toy Giveaway

We were delighted to receive the PetSafe® Cheese Cat Toy to review recently.

Brulee trying to figure out where that mouse went

The Cheese Cat Toy is a battery operated game that features two mice playing "peek-a-boo" with the cats in your household.  Once I pulled the toy out of the box and loaded the batteries, the fun began for Truffle and Brulee.  There are two modes of play on the Cheese Cat Toy:  the One-Time-Play mode and the Play-While-You-Are-Away Mode.

Brulee and Truffle waiting for the mice to peek out.

All you need to do for the One-Time-Play mode is to press and release the power button on top of the cheese.  The mice will randomly peek out of the two holes for 10-15 minutes.  At first Truffle and Brulee just looked at it, but those mice quickly grabbed their attention.   Truffle and Brulee will act like typical cats and try to walk away from it, but the continuous peeking out of the mice invariably brings them back to the toy where they will continue to try and grab the mice. 

Brulee watches as Truffle tries to grab the mouse

The distinctive feature of the Cheese Cat Toy is the Play-While-You-Are-Away Mode.  You press and hold the power button until it beeps 3 times which sets the toy to cycle through three different play times about 2 hours apart during the day.  It's important to monitor how your cats play with the Cheese Cat Toy before using this feature.  Truffle and Brulee love this toy, so it's safe to use this mode to get their attention during the day while I'm at work.  

 Brulee is licking her chops for the time when she finally catches the mouse.  MOL!

The photos just can't show you how the girls interact with this toy, so I have a short little video of them playing with the Cheese Cat Toy.

Give-Away

We are thrilled that the wonderful people at PetSafe are allowing us to host a give-away for the Cheese Cat Toy.  All you need to do it to complete the two required categories in the Rafflecopter widget below to be entered to win it.  There are options for additional entries once the two requirements are completed.  The give-away will run until August 2, 2015.  This give-away is open to our friends in the United States.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


We received the Cheese Cat Toy from PetSafe free for a review and give-away.  Sweet Purrfections only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers, but our opinions are always honest and our own.

Sunday Selfie with Brulee

Brulee wanted to participate in Sunday Selfie blog hop today.  Who would have thought that the vacuum cleaner bag would be a good backdrop for Brulee's selfie?  All of the brown makes her green eyes look brown,  Of course, it could just be the photographer.

Brulee

Sunday Selfie Blog Hop

You can see more Sunday Selfies at The Cat on My Head's blog.

Caturday Art and Evercare Pet Roller Winners

We went back to one of our favorite photo editing pages, Pho.to, to design our Caturday Art graphic. We used the colored pencil effect for this photo of Truffle gazing out of the window beside one of our water fountains.  She's had a tough week this week and is slowly getting better.  The phrase that came to Mom Paula's mind when she captured this photo is, "Tomorrow will be a better day."

The colors also remind us of Sweet Praline.  Mom Paula has been thinking of her a lot lately.  She even called Truffle, Praline, this week when Truffle was sick.  We're being patient with Mom Paula because she's gone through a rough time the past couple of weeks, too.  We know she loves us and we love her, too!

Evercare Pet Roller Giveaway Winners:

Congratulations to the winners of the 2 Evercare Pet Rollers.  An email will be sent to get your mailing address and we will forward the information to the Evercare representatives.  Thank you to everyone who participated in this giveaway.

Caturday Art Blog Hop

An InLinkz Link-up

Our Turbo Track is Fixed

A little over a year ago, Brulee won a photo contest for a $100 giftcard to wag.com.  We were able to buy some much needed food and treats (this was right after Mom Paula's shoulder surgery).  Mom Paula surprised us with a Turbo Track.  We love the Turbo Track.  Last Summer, Mom Paula was getting some new furniture and she took apart our Turbo Track to allow the movers to move out the old and bring in the new.  However, you may remember in February 2015, our Turbo Track was still laying on the floor disassembled.

Disassembled Turbo Track in February 2015

Mom Paula left the Turbo Track disassembled for so long that the ball disappeared.  Now, one would think that she would know that a loose ball is bound to find its way under something.  Mom Paula started feeling guilty and went on Amazon last week and found a replacement ball.  

Our Turbo Track is finally back together

Guess what? This ball twinkles when we bat it around.  It will sit there like any old ball until it starts moving and then it starts twinkling,

Brulee waiting for the ball to come back to her.

Truffle was so happy her Turbo Track was back together and had a fit with the new ball.  She wasn't as patient as Brulee and attacked the ball.  This was the afternoon Mom Paula realized Truffle's right eye wasn't doing well.  You can see it in the photo below.

Truffle attacking the blinking ball in the Turbo Track.

Mom Paula says this is just one more toy lying around our house.  We don't care; we like variety.

Special Note:  This was not a sponsored post.  We just love the Turbo Track and wanted to share our "happy" photos of it being put back together.

Evercare Pet Roller Giveaway

Only 24 hours left to enter to win 2 Evercare Pet Rollers.  There will be 5 winners.  To enter, go to our post here and complete one or more categories in the Rafflecopter widget.

Brulee's New Eating Spot

Truffle and Brulee used to share a plate when they were kittens,  Eventually, as they grew older, Mom Paula moved them to separate bowls about a foot apart.  Brulee eats slower because of the way she eats with her tongue and many times Truffle finishes her plate of food and pushes Brulee out of the way to eat her food.  Mom Paula has started sitting between them to make sure Brulee gets to eat what she wants.

Brulee's preferred eating spot

Recently, Brulee refused to come to the kitchen floor to eat.  She walked under the kitchen chair and just looked at Mom Paula.  It didn't matter what Mom Paula tried to put in the food, Brulee would walk away and sit under the chair.  So, Mom Paula gave in and put her food dish under the chair and that little stinker, Brulee, enthusiastically ate her food.  Now when Mom Paula calls us to eat, Truffle comes running to the kitchen and Brulee casually strolls under the chair and waits for Mom Paula to put her food bowl under the chair.  As you can see from the photo, Brulee has trained Mom Paula purrfectly.

Update on Truffle

Truffle's eye isn't running as much as it was, but she's still squinting and basically laying around. She's tolerating Mom Paula putting the ointment in her eye, but she doesn't really like it.  Brulee appears to have stopped hissing (after Mom Paula rubbed her PJ top on both of them and put baby powder on their behinds).  They aren't being very social together, but things are a little calmer.  Of course, Mom Paula is a big worry wort and wants the eye healed yesterday and the two of us playing together again.  Thank you for all of your purrs.

Evercare Pet Roller Giveaway

Only two days left to submit your entries for 2 Evercare Pet Rollers.  There will be 5 winners.  You can enter to win by completing the entries in the Rafflecopter widget here.

Unplanned Trip to the Vet for Truffle

We interrupt our normal playful Wordless Wednesday post today to let you know that Truffle had to make an unplanned trip to the vet yesterday.  Mom Paula had noticed that one of Truffle's eyes had been "running" lately.  If it had been Brulee, that would be normal because of her brachycephalic face that tends to cause a lot of eye drainage.  Truffle is a "doll-faced" Persian and she has very little eye drainage.  Most of the time Truffle just has "eye boogers" that Mom Paula removes each day. However, this time, the drainage was noticeable and there was a spot below the right eye that was bald.

Truffle is turned slightly in this photo, but if you look at her right eye, you'll see the terrible drainage and discoloration.  The left eye just has an "eye booger" which is easily removed.

Mom Paula called Cherokee Trail Veterinary Hospital to get an appointment for Truffle and they told her they were booked solid.  Mom Paula became very concerned and explained that this wasn't normal and that she would be out of town next week and needed to get this checked.  The nice receptionist told Mom Paula she could bring Truffle in and they would work her in.  Before Truffle knew what was happening, Mom Paula grabbed her up from playing with her track and put her in the Sleepypod.  Truffle made all of her kitty furriends proud by singing the song of her people on the way to the vet.

The windy sound you hear is the AC vent.  Mom Paula wanted to make sure Truffle was cool enough because it was 100+ degrees outside today.

There was a little wait this time, but Truffle handled it okay.  Most of the dogs were on the other side of the waiting room, but they weren't barking.  Truffle did talk to me a little bit when we sat down at first, but the did relax after a few minutes.

Truffle is still singing in the waiting room at Cherokee Trail Veterinary Hospital

We were taken back to the examination room where Truffle was weighed (7.56 lb) and her temperature was taken (103.6 degrees) and it was up a little bit.  We had to sit in the examination room for several minutes because the office was so busy.  It was also louder than usual because it wasn't the normal time they schedule cat appointments.  When Dr. Macaulay walked in the room, she saw Truffle and left for a minute.  She came back and had a blanket with her (she sprayed Feliway on it) and put it on the table, saying "we don't want her to get cold on the metal table).  This was the first time we'd seen Dr. Macaulay and she made a great first impression on Mom Paula with attention to this little detail.  The vet assistant, Megan, came in and said that she just loved Truffle and immediately started hugging her.

Megan (vet assistant) and Truffle

Mom Paula didn't get a photo of Dr. Macaulay and Truffle because she was too busy watching what she was doing.  She said Truffle's heart and lungs sounded fine.  She checked both eyes to make sure they were reacting appropriately and they were fine.  Dr. Macaulay then put some type of green liquid in Truffle's eyes to check the drainage to see if a tear duct was blocked.  She turned out the light and put a black light on Truffle's face to check for drainage.  This was very interesting to watch, but we couldn't get a good photo because it was dark.  Dr. Macaulay said the tear ducts were functioning properly and she thought Truffle may have a little viral infection which caused the drainage and the bald spot came from the irritation.  The vet gave Mom Paula some Terramycin Ophthalmic Ointment to put both in the right eye and on the bald spot.  She said Truffle should start improving within 3 days, but if she wasn't better to bring her back.

Truffle giving Mom Paula the evil eye (sorry about the glowing eyes) with the good and bad eye

Truffle is home and doing okay.  Unfortunately, Brulee doesn't like the smells of the vet office and she's been hissing at Truffle and staying away from her.  We hope things will settle down quickly and Truffle is back to her little bossy self again soon.

Eeeek! A Mouse!!!

We received this cool toy from PetSafe® a couple of weeks ago.  It is really a hit and we can't wait to share more about this item next week since it will be our next giveaway.

Truffle:  Eeeeeeekkkkk!  It's a mouse!

Brulee:  C'mon Truffle, you're a cat!  You're supposed to like mice!

Evercare Pet Roller Giveaway

Don't forget to enter for a chance to win 2 Evercare Pet Rollers.  There will be 5 winners and the giveaway will end this Friday.  

2016 Cat Calendar Submissions

The deadline is fast approaching to submit your photos/collage to be included in the 2016 Cat Calendar.  You can find guidelines and more information by clicking on the graphic on our sidebar or clicking here.

Controlling Floof and Fleas - a Giveaway

It's no surprise that we have a lot of fur around our house because of our long, luxurious floof.  Mom Paula has searched far and wide for the best product to remove our loose fur from her clothes and the furniture.  This search began back in 1995 with Sweet Praline and continues with us.  One would think you could just wash the clothes and the fur would be gone!  Not!  Our fur is so cottony soft that the fur just mats up on the clothes and sticks harder after going through the wash and dry cycles.  The one item we've found that works the best is the Evercare® Pet Lint Roller from Butler Home Products.

Truffle thinking this doesn't smell like a treat

We received an Evercare Pet Giant Lint Roller to review from the company.  Since Mom Paula uses these all the time (we have several in our house, the car, and at her office), she decided to show you an example of how well the roller works on our floof.  Mom Paula recently had surgery and didn't have the energy to put up some of her clean clothes.  Everyone knows how much Brulee likes Mom Paula's clothes, so it didn't take long for Brulee to snuggle into one of Mom Paula's favorite black Gamecock shirts.  As you can imagine, there is silver and white fur all over the shirt.  You'll see in the collage below the before, during, and after photos of using the Evercare roller on the shirt.

Cleaning up the shirt with the Evercare roller
Special Note:  This is the same shirt; just different lighting as the sun was going down.

As you can see in the photo below, we use the Evercare Pet Lint Rollers all the time and have to replace them frequently because we're so floofy.  Notice the giant roll will cover a lot more area with each swipe!

New, gently use, and finished pet rollers in our house

Did you know that you can also use the Evercare line of pet lint rollers to reduce fleas and ticks?  We live in the deep South and fleas and ticks are a major problem for us.  We stay inside, but those pesky critters can hitch a ride on clothes and come indoors.  We do get a flea treatment once a month, but the Evercare roller can help prevent the fleas from getting on us by Mom Paula rolling it over her clothes when she comes in the door.  Luckily for us, she hasn't found any fleas or ticks yet, but you can see an example of how someone "rolled off" fleas and ticks here.  You can also gently roll the lint rollers over your fur children's legs and belly to check for fleas and ticks they may have missed when doing a search for these critters after they've been outside.  

The nice people from Evercare are allowing us to give away some of these wonderful rollers to our readers who live in the United States.  The wonderful thing about this giveaway is that there will be five (5) winners!  Each winner will receive two (2) Evercare Pet rollers.  Please complete at least one of the categories in the Rafflecopter widget below for your chance to win 2 rollers.  The giveaway ends this Friday, July 24, 2015.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Evercare will be releasing a new line of pet rollers this fall and we're excited to try them once they are available.

Disclosure:  We received a free EverCare® Pet Roller in exchange for our fair and honest review. All opinions are our own.

Sunday Selfie

Brulee decided she'd participate in the Sunday Selfie since Truffle has dominated the blog the past few days even if she did refuse to look at the flashy box.

Visit more Sunday Selfies at the Cat on My Head.

Caturday Art

We found a new webpage for editing photos called Photocat.  Of course we were very interested in this site since the name has a cat name.  There aren't as many effects in this program as others we've tried, but we really found one that worked well with this photo of Truffle.

We went to the Effects category and chose the "charcoal" effect.  We didn't do anything else with the effect because we loved how it looked.  We chose this red heart frame to add a little color and love. After saving the design, we went to PicMonkey to add our watermark and resize it to fit our page.

Caturday Art Blog Hop

An InLinkz Link-up

The Teacher Stare

Those of you who've followed our blog for a long time know that Mom Paula was once a middle school math teacher and a college professor.  Mom Paula may be short and "sweet" but she had a mean teacher stare.  Even her nephews would say, "GaGa, please don't use that teacher stare on us." We think Truffle is tapping into her inner teacher with this stare.  Can't you just see her telling Mom Paula to get her stinky goodness in her bowl right now?

Even with the evil teacher stare, she is adorable.

Giveaways

We're very excited that we will be sponsoring several giveaways over the next few weeks.  Once Mom Paula can get some photographs of us with the products, we'll post, so be sure to check back regularly.

2016 Calendar

Don't forget to send in your photos or collages for inclusion in the 2016 calendar.  You can read the guidelines for the photos by clicking on the graphic on the sidebar or by visiting here.  The original deadline for submitting photos was today, but we've extended it to August 1, 2015.  Mom Paula hopes to begin working on it again after she gets back from a meeting in D.C. in a couple of weeks.

Whapping Leaves

Mom Paula doesn't have any live plants in our house.  We'd like to say it's totally because she doesn't want us chewing on them and accidentally (or on purpose) ingesting them.  The real reason is because she has a brown thumb and can't keep anything alive.  She does have a couple of silk plants though.

What leaves?

Every once in a while, some of the silk leaves find their way on the floor.  We have no idea how this happens.  We like to blame it on the AC vents in the wall.  Whenever we "find" one of these leaves, we take advantage of the situation and give them a good whap!  That is, until Mom Paula finds them and tries to put them back in the container.

Take that, you nasty leaf!

Background

We decided to try the green background for a little bit.  We love the elegance of the gray, but we thought the blog needed more color.  We're going to hunt for more green backgrounds.

Wordless Wednesday

Truffle

Blog Hop

Every Day is Easy Day

Every day is Easy Sunday for us kitties.  Mom Paula wishes she could stay at home with us and take it easy, but someone has to earn the green papers to keep us in the style we've grown accustomed to.  MOL!

Brulee really knows how to get her easy on.

Background Choice

Thank you to everyone to voted on the background for our beautiful new header that was designed by Ann of Zoolatry.  The majority of you preferred the gray with the green in a close second.  We're adjusted our background to the gray and may change it to green in the future for a different look.  The confetti and striped backgrounds were designed by Ann and the gray and green backgrounds came from Deposit Photos.

Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain Winner

Thank you to everyone who participated in our first sponsored give away for the Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain as part of PetSafe's Pet Hydration Awareness Month activity.  We'll email the winner to get their contact information.  Congratulations to:

Margot C

Stay tuned for a new giveaway that we'll post in the next few days.

Help Us Choose Our Background

Background Decision

Ann of Zoolatry made us a beautiful header that we posted yesterday as part of our 4th Blogoversary. Mom Paula has searched for numerous backgrounds to use with the header that would compliment the beauty and simplicity of the header.  We did add the "confetti" background yesterday, which was a background for one of our previous graphics.  We still aren't totally satisfied and would like your help with choosing a background.  Each of the backgrounds bring unique features out with the header and we love the colors.

Voting for Background

Please choose which background you prefer in the widget below.

Which background do you like for our new header?

#1 - confetti

#2 - gray

#3 - green

#4 - stripes

Quiz Maker

Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain Giveaway

Today is the last day to submit entries to win a new Drinkwell Pagoda Fountain (valued at $99).  You can submit entries by going here and completing at least one of the categories in the Rafflecopter widget.  The winner will be announced Wednesday.