Compliment to Purina Pet Foods!

[verwon]

I always buy special treats and soft canned food, in addition to the regular dry food for my baby Zeus and co.

First thing when I wake up, he is right there, reminding me that he wants his breakfast and I have to open a fresh can each morning.

Well a couple of weeks ago, I opened a can of Friskies for him but he was following me around complaining like I hadn't given him his breakfast yet. I knew I had, but I thought maybe he didn't like that flavor, or maybe his Kingly tastebuds just weren't in the mood for that one, so I went out to open a different one. I went out to the Dining Room, because his Royal Highness will not eat anywhere except the Dining Room table, (LOL) I grabbed another can, and he was all happy, purring and everything, but thankfully before I added the new one to his plate, I happened to glance down and it took all of 2 seconds to notice why he wasn't eating the other one.

IT WAS FULL OF BUGS! ICK!! I even broke open some of the chunks that were still in one piece from the can, and they were all through it. So I had to carry the plate outside, scrap all of them off along with the whole can of food I had to throw away, then of course, sterilize and scrub the plate.

After I gave him a clean plate and a fresh can, I contact them by email IMMEDIATELY and told them what had happened, and how on a fixed income, I can only afford so much, so now my Zeus was going to be short a can.

They responded immediately, they were very concerned, they explained how they do their best to prevent these kinds of things, but sometimes if there is the slightest air whole that opens in the seam of the can from shipping, these bugs can get in and infest the whole thing. They were appalled and wanted to quickly restore our confidence in their company. So they sent a coupon to give us 2 more cans of any size for free, plus an extra coupon as an apology for what we went through.

This is a great company to deal with, I have contacted them before with compliments and complaints, and they pay attention to everything and they respond right away.

So Kudos Purina, you have just kept 5 very good customers!

[katlnhats]

Hi Ver,

You're right - they are a great company I don't know if you did this or if you remember when this company had this promo. For every bar-code on even the smallest boxes (also bags), of their cat food and ours love their dry food, they each had point values and once you got to 12, and it never took long, you mailed them in and got a coupon for a free 4lb. bag of your choice!
I think we did that for several years before they stopped it - that's amazing as at the time, we were part of Aid To Helpless Animals and got a LOT of coupons for food for our cats.
Even now, both of our cats are "not" kittens (but they don't know it), and they "love" Purina Kitten Chow--mornings they have different varieties and also through the day, but we're talking about a 5 year old and a 2-3 year old cats here, and at dinner, they want their kitten chow!
We've also dealt with them and have gotten coupons from them - and they're a wonderful company to deal with. They'll always have our business!

Kat (whose cats rule the house anyways!)

[verwon]

Yep, I used to do that program all the time. I used to rescue cats, when we lived out in the country so some of them could be outside, so at one point we had 19 of the brats running around and they were all spoiled and pampered. When we had to move to town, I had to find new homes for most of them, some I took to a no-kill shelter, they were Japanese Bobtails and being free, just paying the adoption fee, they were always adoped right away.

But without that program, I wouldn't have been able to feed them all.

Now, I just have my four boys, it was only 3, I was a but leery about bringing in another one as my boys were pretty set in their ways, but then one day, I went to my neighbor's and his adult daughter who was staying with them with her two kids, had carried home a kitten they didn't want there.

Her dad was trying to talk me into taking him, he was only about 3 or 4 weeks old, and I was trying to talk myself out of it. LOL! But then the little guy jumped up on the arm of his chair and he just backhanded him and sent him flying across the room. Then he went out to the kitchen, the kitten was hungry, and I saw that's where the cat food was, but they had a baby gate across the doorway so the little guy couldn't get into the food and water, he wasn't big enough to jump over like their adult cat did. They were also just expecting him, as young as he was, to eat the same food their adult cat did.

The topper though of my heartbreak was when the little guy came back out in the living room, he got up on the couch, and this little white puppy the had jumped up there after him and pounced on the kitten. Had him pinned by the throat, the little guy was squealing in pain and trying to get away, and this guy just laughed.

Well that was it! I rescued him, picked him up, tucked him under my shirt so the traffic wouldn't startle him when we crossed the street, and went out the door! On my way out, I said SEE YA, Thanks for the kitten!

My oldest cat Mr. Whiskers was having a tooth problem and I had been buying some of the soft kitten foods to make it easy for him to eat anyway, so I took the little guy in and showed him the food dishes and he was starving, I mean he just dove in and ate and ate. I wasn't sure how my boys would react, being that Mr. Whiskers was already 5 and Leo and Zeus were 4 at that time, as a matter of fact, being that he is such a mamma's baby, I really thought Zeus would be the worst.

But I took each of them in and showed them the kitten one at a time, Leo hissed once, and he is our big fat lazy boy, so he was like UGH! THAT IS TOO MUCH LIKE WORK! So then he was fine. Mr. Whiskers who has the biggest attitude had to carry on for about a week, but my Zeus, whom I had been most worried about, took right too him, took him under his wing, started cleaning him, showed him how to use the litter box, cuddle up to sleep with him all the time, and they have been pals ever since.

I was also worried what Andy would say, since he was convinced our family was already the perfect size and said NO MORE CATS! LOL! He didn't know yet as he was at school when this happened. So when I heard him pull in the driveway, I grabbed the little guy and walked out to show him to Andy and the first words out of his mouth were "AW, he's cute, what's his name?" then he said "Oh, never mind, he will earn a name on his own!" He grabbed him off of my shoulder, snuggled him up and not a word was said about him ever leaving.

We took him to the vet we had found locally, had him tested for worms or anything, since we had no idea where he came from and didn't want him infecting our other babies with anything. Got his shots, had him fixed when he was old enough, and he has turned out to be the smartest and most playful cat we have ever had. The vet told me he is at least half, if not full white-based Maine Coon, so he even plays fetch with toys, just like a dog would. He brings it in and mews until you throw it, then brings it back, and he can keep it up for hours.

He also likes to play peek-a-boo, though we now call it peek-a-mo, because Mo is his nickname.

The name he earned by the way, since Andy was in Philosophy class that semester, is Machiavelli, Machi for short, pronounced like Mocky! He loved the name and came running right away when Andy suggested it. We have always done that with our cats, let them pick what they liked and it works well that way. But he likes his nicknames, too, like I said Machi and Mo, he will come to either of those as well, and I if I am looking for him because I haven't seen him for awhile, I can draw him out of any hiding place just by asking "Where is mommy's little MucketyMuch?" He can never resist that and will come running every single time.

Machi is now almost 2 (September by our figurings), Mr. Whiskers will 7 next month, Leo and Zeus (who are brothers, same litter) will be 6 in November, our dog will also be 6 next month. Mr. Whiskers tries to be a bully sometimes, and while the other boys let him get away with it, Machi won't, he will stare him down and it always results in Whiskers giving up and running away. LOL!

I am so glad I decided to bring him home that day, but when I saw him hungry and being abused, my heart just melted and I had to get him out of there. I am so glad I did. The guy ended up leaving his wife, literally for the woman next door, and I MEAN literally, it was a side by side duplex, he left his wife, daughter and grandkids, and move in with the woman in the other apartment. So my landlord called it Peyton Place by the railroad tracks! LOL! (Same guy owns our house, too!)

Anyway, his wife and daughter didn't pay any of the rent of bills after he left, then tried to blame him for everything, but they ended up getting evicted. However, to get revenge on him, the pets that were there that he cared about, well they took his cat, drove her out in the middle of nowhere and just tossed her out the car window. They left his bird in the apartment when they left and didn't tell anyone, so she starved to death, my landlord and I found her in there laying dead in her cage.

The puppies and the older dog they had, well, it is hard to believe anyone could be this nasty, but she had her oldest son, who was 3 at that time "hug" them to death. She got him to squeeze them so hard he caused internal injuries and they died in agony.

When I saw the bird, and the landlord told me the rest of it, I just came home, grabbed Machi, who was several months old by now, I snuggled him an djust cried. He likes to lean on my shoulder with his butt supported by my arms when I hold him and he purrs in my ear and grooms my hair. LOL!

But I have never been so happy about a rescue in my life. He is awesome and it is kind of like he was just supposed to be with us. We never had accidents, when I brought him in, he made himself at home just like he had always been here, and he is truly an awesome little friend.

He is a true character though, so smart he is always figuring stuff out, so you can't really keep him out of anything or anywhere he wants to be, I have to watch as one day, I was going to run the dishwasher and was glad I checked before turning it on, as he had climbed in and was lounging in there, this also happened with the clothes dryer! So in the house, you never close a door or turn anything on without checking for the Mo first. Even my son's friends who come over to play know to never slam a door or anything!!

It also doesn't matter what you are doing, when he wants attention and love, he wants it now, no ifs, ands, or buts, and no excuses. He will even come in, in the middle of the night, and wake us up to get attention. We can be sound asleep, he will come up, point his nose right at yours and start mewing and purring until he wakes you up.

He is also a total chat cat, you can carry on a whole conversation with him and he will answer back.

[katlnhats]

Hi Ver,

I'm SO glad you took that baby - if he didn't starve from lack of food or abuse, he'd have been in the same position as the others. People can be truly SICK!
Mark usually hops in bed first; and the minute he does, the brats hop up with him and take over my entire side of the bed - and they're not happy at all if/when I have to move them so I can squeeze in! I get "the look" from Stretch - we call him our teenager! LOL Miss looks disgusted and gets down, then after I get in bed, up she comes, ready to have a conversation! About then, Stretch decides he wants to sleep on my face (I move him, he's heavy and he's literally ON my face - can't breathe!) Miss walks down my side of the bed, yakking and purring and up the middle, still at it, walks across my pillow (on my hair, of course), then finally settles down, purring (I call it singing) herself to sleep, but you 'have' to pet her and talk to her first, or you may never get any sleep - she's a little set in her ways!
Funny, they've never liked the different cat treats that we've tried, but they love the Greenies ones - only a little bit at a time though.
I know you and Andy love your other "kids" as much as we love ours; it's great to talk to someone that understands.
Love the whole story you posted - more!!!!!!!!!!

Kat