Grumpy cat and Christmas feasts

What can possibly compare with the joy of a Christmas tree, warm fire, cinnamon rolls and cocoa? Having an adorable dog to share it with makes the picture perfect. After our gifts were opened, paper cleaned up and excitement toned down, a long walk was in order. Of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a trip to the dog park to meet and greet friends.

Back home with our Christmas dinner in the oven, we all settled down to watch a soon to be classic Christmas film, “Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever.” It is a recently released film starring the Internet sensation Tardar Sauce. Tardar Sauce, aka Grumpy Cat, is a felis catus, a dwarf cat. She has a particular expression that conveys grumpy in a big way.

I had never noticed before, but lots of cats look grumpy. I did a bit of research and guess what? Cats don’t have the muscles in their face to smile or lift up the area surrounding the cheeks. That’s why cats look bored, grumpy or not interested. Cats show affection in other ways such as rubbing against you or eliciting your attention by bonking into your hand.

I can honestly say that Grumpy Cat’s movie was cute and pretty benign. The crooks were funny and the stunts fun. The voice for Grumpy Cat (done by Aubrey Plaza) is perfect, sarcastic and deadpan. Jim Henson’s puppet workshop did many of the stunts involving the cat.

My first exposure to Grumpy Cat was at Macy’s in San Francisco where she was the star of a press conference. She slept through the entire event but projected an air of charm. You can check out Grumpy Cat at (grumpycats.com). Watson isn’t a real cat fan, unless it involves chasing, so we had to look for something else that would catch his interest. We didn’t have to go far before we found an amazing promotional video done by the Fresh Pet Food Company in Utah.

“Bringing the Joy of a Holiday Feast to Rescue Pets” features 13 dogs and one cat dressed in clothing sitting at a formal table and eating dinner. The animals have people hands because the people are behind the animals like puppeteers. Gosh, I just laughed and enjoyed the whole production.

The greatest thing is that all the pets, except the cat, have been adopted. You can check it out at (Fresh-pet Holiday Feast on you-tube.com) or just Google “Bringing the Joy of a Holiday Feast to Rescue Pets.”

In other news you can support CAPS if you shop at Amazon. The following is what Amazon says about their new program.

“AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.”

Buying local is my first choice but some things I get from Amazon aren’t available in Fallon. Signing up for the AmazonSmile program was a snap and hopefully those donations will start adding up.

Easy links to the Smile site are at our website at the bottom of the homepage (www.capsnv.org) Please join us and sign up to help bring in more revenue in 2015.

Be sure to “Like” CAPS on Facebook because we are really likable.

CAPS News and Events:

Happy New Year to you! Thank you to everyone who supported CAPS by volunteering, donating resources, adopting pets and kissing Ki.

CAPS has adorable puppies who are looking for the forever homes of their dreams. Ring in the New Year with a little furry buddy.

CAPS will be at Walmart in the New Year with our Kissin’ Booth and the adorable Ki. Watch this column for the dates and time. Get your kiss on!

Do you have questions, comments or a great story? Please contact me at jkwmil@outlook.com.

This week’s article was contributed by Kathleen Williams-Miller, a CAPS volunteer.