Erin Flaherty

Total 43 Posts

Reality check: Making Arrangements for your Pets for After you are Gone (this just got real)

As many of you know, the Cat Connection is currently trying to find suitable homes for more than 25 feral and semi-feral cats. These cats were cared for by a long-time customer of the store, who literally opened her door up to a large feral population of needy cats around her home. Unfortunately, due to a recent accident, she is no longer able to look after her feline charges. At present, all 25 cats are being held…

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“Fall” scented litter, anyone? No. Just No.

Like any reasonable human, all of us at the Cat Connection love Fall. What’s not to love? Changing leaves, warm clothes (I mean, eventually… we’re in Texas, remember?), Halloween… pumpkin spice everything. We love it all! At least, that’s what we thought, until we stumbled upon Tidy Cats Fall Frolic kitty litter. Behold and be disturbed: OK. Let’s deconstruct this monstrosity piece by piece. For Human Use Only. This is an example of a product that…

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September Cat Cafés & August Successes! (No rest for the weary at the Cat Connection)

Phew! The Cat Connection just finished its craziest August ever, and we are taking a second to breathe! Four Cat Cafés, one on each Saturday that month, kept our staff, shop cats and volunteers busy beyond words and meows. But it was all worth it, as we are so happy to report these amazing successes: Café visitors: 1,200 Money raised to benefit local shelters: $3,620 Felines adopted into loving forever homes: 18 Following the success…

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Fleas: Miserable, Annoying Terrors for both You and Kitty (and how to deal)

Recently, the Cat Connection has received numerous questions regarding fleas and flea treatment. This is no surprise, as DFW’s record-breaking wet spring this year produced an outbreak in flea infestations throughout the metroplex. The rain even jeopardized the feral cat program at Southern Methodist University, and many homes and cats experienced flea issues for the first time. So, with this in mind, here is the Cat Connection’s primer on all things flea-related! Try not to…

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Cat Café: DFW Purebred and Domestic Cat Rescue, Meet the Breeds!

The Cat Connection is busy preparing for its second Pop-Up Cat Café, which will be held on Saturday, August 15 from 11 AM to 4 PM. Our inaugural Café was a great success, raising $1,000 for Operation Kindness and helping to find three cats their forever homes! This weekend, the Café will be featuring a new rescue in need of exposure for their adoptable kitties: DFW Purebred and Domestic Cat Rescue. We hope to see you all there for…

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Inaugural Cat Café: Successes and Pop-Upness

Now that all of us at the Cat Connection have finally caught our breath following Saturday’s Pop-Up Cat Café, we are so happy to share the final numbers of the event. Drum roll, please! Number of Café attendees: 600 Number of Café cats adopted / pending adoption: 3 Amount raised for Operation Kindness: $1,000 All we can say is WOW! What a great day for everyone, human and feline alike. Thank you to all the DFW Cat People…

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We Speak Cat: A Kitty Communication Guide

For the uninitiated, feline communication can appear nearly impossible to decipher. While dogs benefit from, conservatively, 15,000 years of co-evolution with humans, in addition to decades of intensive scientific and behavioral research, cats have largely been left to their own mysterious selves. The discrepancy between how we engage with dog versus cat communication is partially due to the difficulty of using cats as research subjects, because as it turns out – go figure – cats simply don’t care that…

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Cats Carriers: Safety in a Box

One of the most rewarding parts of working at the Cat Connection is getting to meet our customers’ feline friends in “person” (catson?) through our boarding and grooming services. But as fun as it is to meet the cats we’ve heard so much about, we often receive questions about our requirement that all cats be in a carrier when visiting the Cat Connection, so we decided to address your concerns here. Why we require a cat carrier…

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Your Daily Cat Fix: The Cat Connection adds more Cat Café weekends in August

The Cat Connection is so happy to announce that we have added three more dates to the Dallas Cat Café! In addition to the kick-off Café on Saturday, August 8th, which will feature Sauerkraut Kitty, LoveCup Coffee and adoptable felines from Operation Kindness, the Cat Connection will also be hosting the Café every Saturday that month! Each Café will feature a new rescue, so there will be new kitties to meet and chill with every week. The…

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Food for Thought: Quality matters, or, Why we do what we do

This week, The Cat Connection learned that Merrick Pet Care, the Texas-based manufacturer of Castor and Pollux Organix and Merrick brand dog and cat food, was sold to Nestlé Purina PetCare Company via their private equity owner, Swander Pace Capital. Though the terms were not disclosed, we assume this transaction involved a lot of money, as Merrick is one of the fastest growing natural/organic pet food brands and Purina controls at least a third of the…

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