Cat Hustler

06/05/2026

Today's chapter of Yes, We Tried That is electro-acupuncture. Fingers crossed that Piggy's incontinence adventure ends with a light, affordable zap, because holy s**t this has been hard on us both. ⚡ 🤞 💜

This was her third appointment and first with electricity. Painless, no fuss, hopefully the solution we've been searching for.

05/15/2026

When gaming friends care enough to trade the virtual world for meatspace, you've gotta show them a good time. Zal here is a longtime FFXIV companion and vacation buddy who happens to have a vibe (and Churus) cats love, so his visit warranted a rare trip inside the beltway (IYKYK) to visit , the DMV's newest cat cafe.

We'll try to hit one more before he heads home on Sunday. Which would you take a visiting friend to?

04/21/2026

This week got me like...

04/19/2026

Happy Cat Lady Day! 😺✨ We're celebrating by claiming power from the punchline with shirts & bags your future self will still think are cool.

Check out how sick this design looks on tie-dye! We've got tons of cuts and colors to pick from - make it your own!

100% of the profits go toward the 2027 Acatemy conference, where cat ladies shine bright.

This Bonfire campaign is print-on-demand, which means your order will be processed the same or next day and arrive *much* faster than with bulk ordering.

Claim power from the punchline in a tee that your future self will still think is cool. . 100% of shirt sale profit goes to the 2027 Acatemy, the conference for cat rescuers...

04/17/2026

Small win of the day: our Caring Hands Animal Hospital punch card is full!

It only took 2 months; Piggy and her $600 UTI appreciate the break.

I love her but miss my other expensive hobbies.

04/01/2026

This was Piggy's ass when I got home from Global Pet Expo. We're doing better thanks to a topical regimen, but the aftermath of Radiocat is the gift that keeps on giving.

I know that it usually goes fine and I was advised that thyroid-masked heart or kidney issues may arise after treatment, but I was not prepared for the s**tshow that ensued.

First, she popped positive for FeLV in her second round of post-Radiocat bloodwork last fall. We did quantitative testing and learned that she's regressive, so... fine... we'll keep monitoring. Then she started collapsing when she puked. Many vet visits and heart-specific analyses later, we narrowed it down to vasovagal syncopes. Fine. We can switch to slow feeders to keep this scarf-n-barf nonsense in check. Easy. Then, about a month and a half ago, the incontinence started.

At first it was annoying but then the UTI came. Convenia shot - done. The straight up pi***ng herself stopped but the constant dribble continued. I stayed on top of keeping her clean but my punishment for leaving town for a few days was heinous urine scald that escalated into a nasty dermal infection. Her longtime sitter is wonderful but Piggy is a notorious as***le who refuses to let most people touch her, nevermind see her sickness. The poor bitch hid a sumo orange ass for a full 4 days.

Our vet is amazing and goes out of his way to do extended research on her bulls**t. Turns out the incontinence is either a side effect of dysautonomia or FeLV-related. Yes, the FeLV she didn't pop positive for before Radiocat.

The good news is that Piggy has been at Caring Hands Animal Hospital so often since Radiocat that not only is our punch card almost full, but her heart murmur (if it still exists) is undetectable. Exposure therapy FTW. Without the heart murmur, she's eligible for a treatment that could address the incontinence. We'll start Friday when we go get her ass re-checked.

This is not at all intended to be a Radiocat bash. Everyone I know who has done it has nothing but good things to say; Piggy is just an exceptionally rare case. I beat myself up about it but know I but did the right thing with the information I had, even though it's playing out in the most dramatic and expensive way possible.

Her tail is back in the air, her appetite has returned, and soon she'll be cone-free and ready to taste test the duffel bag of treats I brought her from Global.

Shout out to Sumo Citrus - these oranges are spectacular despite the visual comparison. They're forever on my Costco shopping list. 🍊💜

03/29/2026

I scoured over 3,500 booths at Global Pet Expo to find the best products for rescuers so you don’t have to. The full recap is coming, but I wanted to get my top 4 picks for rescue and surrender prevention out before anything else because as we know, time is of the essence in some cases.

🌍 World's Best Cat Litter partnered with Blücare Laboratories to offer a litter additive that provides early detection for blood in urine. The starch-based particles are good for up to three weeks in your litter box, and results are visible and reliable for 48 hours after contact with urine. This will absolutely save lives, money, and vet visits.

See how it works: https://blucarelab.com/instructions/
https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/health-check-in-boosters/

⚕️ Emeraid has been around for decades, but this was the first I’d seen or heard of it. Cat Sustain is an easily absorbed and digested recovery diet that can be prepared in 5 ways. It comes as a powder which can be combined with varying amounts of water to shape into treats, form a paste, make a pate or slurry, or prep for syringe feeding. The reviews are great with some palatability issues, which you can get around with syringe feeding.

Emeraid offers shelter discounts. https://emeraid.com/vet/shelter-discount/
https://emeraid.com/vet/emeraid-cat-sustain/

🤧 Pacagen Pets anti-allergen spray was developed in response to the inventor facing the potential surrender of his cat due to his wife’s allergies, a scenario all rescuers are familiar with. It’s received high reviews and seems worth recommending to households facing hard decisions.

https://pacagen.com/en-us/products/cat-allergen-neutralizing-spray

🩹 Suitical recovery suits are the right tool for the job. As someone who has gone the modified baby onesie route long term and now has one of these in hand (thank you for the sample), I’ve seen the light. I’ve also tried the inexpensive recovery suits; this one is a better fit all around. Smaller limb holes, reinforced snap panels, an absorbent lining sewn into the belly; it’s a must-have for regular medical fosters. I’ll DIY most things but there’s a better way on this one.

https://www.suitical.com/en-us/recovery-suit-cat/

𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

• De' Vora Scratch Square
https://devora.us/pages/scratch-square-for-cats

• Under the Weather Pet pre-loaded nutrition & recovery syringes https://www.undertheweatherpet.com/collections/cats

• Giddy Kitty reward-heavy prey toys
https://giddykitty.com/collections/purrsuits

Stay tuned for more neat cat stuff I found on the GPE show floor and thoughts on rescues’ relationship with the pet industry, informed by a week of talking with dozens of brand reps.

All opinions are my own and I was not paid to promote anything here.

03/28/2026

Back in the day, posting up at IHOP didn't mean "bring the 5"-thick stack of business cards you collected this week, buddygirl, we're going leadsharing".
There's a ton to do when I get home tomorrow and sharing my top finds for cat rescuers is first on the list, but maybe I'll try to sleep off this thousand yard stare first.

Yuge thanks to .rainbolt for being my neighbor and party buddy through my first . This has been equally amazing and exhausting.

03/27/2026

Last day at Global Pet Expo and I've learned a lot about a lot.

1) People aren't gatekeeping what's here, there's just thousands of booths and only so much time to get through them. It's miles of walking and being pitched to; it's exhausting and the people who create content the day of are pros. I'm looking at this stack of business cards to follow up on and cannot imagine having time to make a video.

2) I cannot overstate the amount of tofu litter here. I've seen at least 30 booths. It all looks pretty much the same aside from a few with charcoal, light fragrance, and some being granular rather than pellets.

3) Freeze dried food and supplemental snacks are huge. At least 50 booths, easily double that since I skipped most dog-only brands. Meat is meat though, and most brands I spoke with are planning to label them specifically for cats as a test run. Dried fish skins are also a significant chunk of the show floor.

4) Most companies are open to working with rescues and shelters. You will not be surprised to hear that they'd prefer a culture shift that normalizes social media coverage/recognition at the very least. They'll keep giving because it's part of their corporate model, but we need to step it up in general.

5) There's a lot in the way of preventative health care, largely better food with fewer ingredients. It's mostly for dogs right now but I spoke with a few brands expanding to cats and they've got non-prescription renal diets coming at a fraction of what we've been paying.

6) Brands know that vet bills and the cost of pet ownership are a problem. Only a few I talked to who foster themselves knew how it's resulting in surrenders/returns and overwhelming the fragile system we have in place. They're being advised by a major national org that most of us would have some words about, so I'm excited to bring them into the Acatemy family where they can hear how things really are and why directly from you.

7) Dog influencer moms are built different. I've been trying to Jane Goodall them with no success.

8) It is not difficult to make a man you just met eat a jerky treat.

9) The cost of cat care was a huge surprise for brands entering R&D for expanding their product offerings. From the dog side, cat ownership is perceived as comparatively low maintenance.

10) There's an emerging set of options for digital monetization that are great fits for understaffed rescues. Details soon!

Much more coming when I recover from this thing.