Raw Food Connection

In case you guys are wondering why I have "DO NOT FEED" on Briar's tag, it's because he's on a raw food diet. He's gets the turkey, rabbit, and chicken Aunt Jeni's Home Made Recipies. He's had the beef but it doesn't settle that well with him. I guess if you think about it, how is a little cat like him going to catch and eat a cow? It took a little while to get him used to the flavor. It's free of preservatives, salt, and flavorings. It's a more natural type of food cats would be eating if they were in the wild... whole, ground up with bones, organs, feathers and all. You can check out where I get his supply: http://www.therawconnection.com/ It's not that much more expensive than canned food or kibble, but there is refrigeration and special handling involved (handle the food as if you would a raw chicken).

Litterbox

Briar was out all night thursday night to friday morning. I left the cat door open for him but it seems he never wants to use it for coming in, just going out. I was leaving around 7:30AM friday to take my brother to the airport. As I opened my door, Briar's head shows up under the door and he snakes his way into my car. I'm thinking.. "What? You little rascal, you've been out all night you're not going anywhere". So I grabbed him out of the car, gave him some treats and left him inside. He pretty much was a lazy cat and slept around the house all day.

That night, I think he was mad at me. After I fed him, he was scratching at the front door and the cat door for a while. Involved with the movie I was watching, I started to get annoyed with the noise. I told him..."Sorry Briar, I'm not worrying about your wherabouts tonight, you're staying in". He then sat down and gave me a frustrated stare. He watched me watch TV for about 10 minutes. When he realized I wasn't going to let him out, he got up, walked a half circle around me, and stared at my face the entire time until he disappeared behind the bed. Normally, if he needs to do something, he just does it, but I swear he was mean mugging me! Like... "FINEEEE, I'll use the STUPID litterbox.... but I'm not gonna like it, and I'm going to make sure you feel guilty about it"... and sad to say...I kinda did.

At 11:00pm, my friend sent me a text message "It's 11:00PM, do you know where your child is?" I could happily reply "Yes, rolling around on my bed".

Yes, I'm Briar...

So, my person told you some stories about me. I heard. She thinks I'm going to be famous... or something. It turns out that I'm already famous, and I have all kinds of friends in the area. I really don't mind that she's writing about me. I think that some of my adventures will inspire readers. Did you know that many of my brother and sister cats are here just to do that? Inspire.

I've adopted some humans, and I'm trying to help them in many ways. Some of the humans think they're helping me. I guess on some level that's true, but I think it's mostly the other way around. You might think of me as an adventurer. And that would be true. But sometimes I feel like I'm more of a teacher.

You've seen my pictures, right? Some of my human friends have been calling me "Boots". I have some white ones. And some of the kids I know at human school call me "River". I kind of like all my nicknames. As a matter of fact, you can call me anything, as long as it's nice.

I'll post some of my adventures over the next few months. Let me know what you think. Oh, and if you've seen me around town drop me a comment.

Our Favorite Place

Somedays, if I don't take him to the beach, he goes without me.

Scenic

After my appointment this morning, I decided to cruise by the beach in my car on Scenic Road to check the waves. I get a "RESTRICTED" call on my cell phone. I pick up the call illegally without my hands-free device, and there's a lady with a foreign accent in distress...

"I zink we hove your lost cat here, he is on Zzenic Voad and 12th! He is heading...ahh... North I zink, oh, maybe vee lost heem". I reply "Oh, thank you so much for calling, I am about 10 seconds away! I'll come get him!"

So as I am approaching 12th street, I power my passenger side window down, slow to a stop and call him... "Briar! Briar Kitty!" and he pops up in the window and jumps in the passenger seat. He lays down and is panting like a dog (he does this regularly). The people are shocked and laughing at the same time. I yell out my window... "He likes the beach! Thanks again for calling! Have a nice day!". On my way home I razzled his head as he gnawed at me.

He hung out on the patio for about an hour, now he's gone again!

Dangerous

The lady who lives 2 houses from me, kidnapped him one evening around 6:00pm on the corner, 20 ft away from where we live and kept him overnight because I couln't get a hold of her after she called. I ran into her yesterday as I was walking him, she lectured me about how "he needs to be an inside cat, it's dangerous for him out there, is he neutered, racoons are dangerous, blah blah".. anyways...I KNOW she fed him too (even though it says "DO NOT FEED" on his tag). I mean, yah I can keep him inside but he will be an unhappy cat who would probably comfort his loneliness by overeating and becoming obese like the rest of americas cats. Besides, my friend says he's a violet, he needs to be social... he thrives on being in the mix of things.

Meet Frank

This is Briar's buddy Frank. He's the neighbors kitty. They met almost 2 months ago and they're good friends. They're huntin' gophers.

And to the nice people I met last night at L'Auberge Hotel, thank you for calling me. I was a little worried and thought maybe he got kidnapped again.

Meet Briar

Hello, this is the story of Briar.

We adopted him sometime inFebruary 2008. People at the shelter estimated him to be about 6 months old but no one knows for sure. His eyes still looked cloudy in a grayish-emerald shade like they weren't fully developed. How I even ended up at the shelter was another story. Our in-tact feral cat "Kit" who adopted us a few winters ago went missing. So I took a couple trips to the SPCA to see if he ended up there. We never did find Kit.

The first time I saw Briar, he was in the likeness of Kit, only cuter, and fuzzier. Kit was a gnarly 15lb cat with a huge head who would bring gifts of rabbits to my doorstep. Briar was about 4 lbs and when I walked by his cage he reached out to paw at my hair. His paws were sooo fluffly they had tuffs coming out of them. He was very playful, engaging and so gentle I questioned if he still had his claws. He would be up for adoption in 2 days if no one came to claim him, and would be put to sleep in 7 if he didn't get adopted. I went to the admin and put my name on the waiting list.

Two days later, I drove back out there to visit Briar. I took him out for about 15 minutes into the play room and shined the laser around for him. He way wanted to get that thing badly, but I think he was almost a little attention deficit with the funny smells. I'm sure that room had been pee-d all over by other animals. He climbed on all the carpet posts and played with my shoelaces. One thing I remember so clearly was a jump. He leaped from one of the carpeted posts from about three feet. He floated in the air for what seemed like many seconds, his fur followed him in perfect flow, landed on his feet so gracefully, not making a sound, like he was landing on clouds.... poof. It was so cute!

I then scheduled a date for him to be neutered and taken home.

A couple days later, I arrived at the SPCA with a cat carrier. I waited about 15 minutes and a nurse brought him out in his arms. He was really drowsy and could barely walk. The nurse told me to keep him in the carrier when I got home so he could sleep, and that he probably will be frightened and want to stay in there until the sedation wore off. I drove him home and put him in the back room. He was pawing at the wires in the carrier so decided to let him out. He immediate walked out with his head up... back feet still draggin', and explored the WHOLE house. Sweet, this was the day I brought him home.

We were trying to figure out what to call him. We've gotten a few suggestions... Marshmellow Paws, Socks, and even Boots. One day, we were doing laundry and he jumped in the dryer. "Hey rascal get out of the dryer...Dryer, Bryer, Briar". That's how he got his name.