Welcome to the Town Tour

Thank you for being patient and waiting for our town tour; our human was out of town and the computer was off. We would like to thank our friends Momo the cat, Momo the dog, Sassy, Asta, Captain Jack and Dante for sticking around to join us on the tour. We would also like to invite you, the reader, along for the walk.

We live in a quiet, little town called Fusignano (pronounced Foo- see- nyah-no), we call it Fusi for short. It is a good, size town, not too big and not too small. Fusi is located in Emilia Romagna in the province of Ravenna. There are around 8,000 humans living here and countless more animals. Nothing much exciting happens in Fusi, but the people are friendly and life is tranquil.

The tour starts at our house. We live in a nice home at the end of quiet street that is lined with trees. Our house is the last one on the street and it is bordered by a small river called the Senio.

Are you ready for a walk into town?

This is our street, you can see that autumn is in full swing here. Soon the trees will be bare and then the fog will arrive. Late fall and winter can be very foggy in this part of Italy. In fact, this area (near the Delta Po region) is quiet famous for the fog. We think it is pretty, of course we always enjoy it from the warmth and comfort of our home. Are you getting tired? Don't worry, the town center is just a few blocks away.


This is our main square, called a piazza in Italian. The town piazza is a very important part of Italian life; you could say it is the heart of the town. Here you will always find people gathered either talking business or just gossiping. In the summer months there are concerts and after midnight mass, on Christmas eve, there is a party complete with live music, a bonfire and plenty of spiced, hot wine.

This small church was almost destroyed during world war two. In fact, most of our town was bombed as it was the scene of the front for four moths during the winter of 1945. When the allies liberated Fusignano that spring, there were only few building left and most the historical sites were gone. This church is now used as a shrine to the local fallen Italian soldiers. You could say this little church is the symbol of the town. Shall we hop on the steps for a photo? Everyone say cheese....



Let's continue on our tour. To the left is one of the few prewar buildings that survived. It is a private residence; some lucky people and their lucky pets get to live inside of it.

Up on the right another one of the few old building left in Fusi. It once was the town hospital, but now half of it is a pharmacy and the other half is an art museum. Our human male born here one wintry night many years ago.

We don't know about you guys, but all of this walking is making us thirsty. Are you ready to stop and rest your paws awhile? Let's stop off at a cafe to grab a drink and a snack. Cafes are a very important part of Italian life, there seems to be one (or more) on every block. Go inside anytime of the day and you almost surely find someone stopping in for a quick drink (usually some sort of coffee drink). This one is one of our favorite cafes, Bar Republica. We like this bar because this building is also another that survived the war. The facade of the building hasn't been touched since and, if you closely, you can still see bullet holes in it to this day.

Can we get you a cappuccino, espresso, or cafe latte? Who wants a snack? Have a seat and we will take care of everything. It is fun to just sit outside on a nice day and watch the traffic. How about another picture? CHEESE!


Did you see what is across the street? That is an authentic English telephone box! You are probably curious to know what an English telephone box is doing in Italy. Well, Fusiganno has a sister city on England and years ago they gave the telephone box to the town as a gift and as a sign of their friendship. It really works! Why don't we see if we can all fit inside at the same time!

Well, it is getting late so we had better get back home.

We had a great time showing our friends around our home. We have to come to love it here and hope that you all have enjoyed your visit.

Monday (late) Morning Advice

Well we had a great time on the town tour today. Thanks to all who stuck around so you could get a look at our village. We took some great photos and hope to get those up soon. Our human will be gone all day tomorrow, but she has promised to get the tour and the photos posted first thing on Wednesday.

Next up on the celebration list, Mafia movie night. Everyone who comes has to have a mafia name (like Sammy "the bull" or "Scarface"). So get your thinking caps on. Will post more details later.

And now for our Monday morning advice, if but a little late. This one comes to our email box from an anonymous sender.

Dear Opus and Roscoe,
Last night I stayed up all night, at a party, eating pizza and licking up catnip. Now I have a terrible headache and my tummy is burning. I think there just might be a fire in there. What can I do to survive the day?

Sincerely,
Firebreather

Dear Firebreather,
We think that many of us can relate to your problem this morning. Do what we did; a few Tums and return to bed immediately. You might want to consider getting your human to rub your belly, preferably while laying on a soft bed in a dark room. Best wishes to you and we hope you feel better soon.

Love,
Opus and Roscoe

**We retract our advice about taking aspring. You may do so ONLY if you are a human. The furry ones should stay clear of the stuff and stick to a belly rub. Thank you for your comments.**

Opus and Roscoe are looking for emails to use in their Monday monring advice column. If you have a question pertaining to care of or problems with your human, please write them at catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com. Thank you.

That Was Fun

A big thank you to all of our friends who stopped by our party yesterday. We had so much fun and thank you for helping us to celebrate our 3rd Moveaversary. Yahoo must have heard about our party because today they published an article about the history of pizza in America. Click here if you want read about it. Now you all have been to Italy, you know that there is a big difference between Italian pizza and American pizza; what they have in common is that they are delicious!

We hope you enjoyed the feast as much as we did. Sorry we fell asleep during the movie, but it was late and we are old cats.

To our friends who stayed the night, stick around. After we have had a good nap and a proper breakfast, we are going to take you on a tour of town. In the afternoon we can have some left over pizza and another nap. In the meantime, let's get a little more shut eye.

Thank you again to all who came!

Love,
Opus and Roscoe

PIZZA PARTY

Welcome to our pizza party! Today we are celebrating the third anniversary of when we moved to Italy! We just can't believe that it has already been three years since our paws first touched Italian soil. Where has the time gone?

Though we miss America, we just love living in Italy. The most popular question people (and animals) ask us is "what do we love best about living in Italy". There is just one simple word to answer that question, PIZZA!

Italy is the home of pizza and we just can't get enough of it. In Naples, six hours south of our home, is where the very fist pizza was made. If you ever get to Naples, you have to try a pizza there; it is guaranteed to be the best in the world!

Because we love pizza so much, we thought we would throw a pizza party for all of our friends, that that you guys can have a chance to taste the "real deal" and also visit us in Italy.

Please come inside, we have hired our human to work as our personal slave today (is that really so different than any other day). She is here to wait on us hand and paw, so if there is anything you need, just ask her.

We spent a lot of time making all sorts of pizzas; we have fish pizza, lizard pizza, crab pizza, pepperoni, ham and a seafood pizza. If you don't see anything you like, just ask and we can whip you up something special.

(to view the selction of pizzas, click on image)

It was a big job making all of these pizzas from scratch. Our Aunt Sassy arrived yesterday to help us get ready for the big day. Here we are in the kitchen making a fish pizza. It seems that I am doing all the work as Opus is just "supervising" and Sassy is eating more fish than she is putting on the pizza.


Over on the counter are all kinds of drinks. Please help yourself to anything you like, but you plan to drink alcohol, please be responsible. Anyone who would like to spend the night is welcome to do so, there are plenty of places to curl up for a warm nap.

The bathroom is out on the back terrace, just make your way through the small plastic door and you will find the liter box waiting on the other side. If you are a cat who is afraid of pet doors, just ask I will make the human open it for you.

We request that you don't smoke in the house, but you have need please step out onto the front terrace. It is also a great place to go cool down and get some fresh air after dancing.


And speaking of dancing, the living room is set up as a disco. Our male human is hard at work as the party DJ, if you have any requests just ask him.

Out side we have a game of bocce ball set up and ready to go. Bocce ball is a very popular game in Italy where you throw balls across the lawn without going pass certain line. The closest ball without crossing the line wins, but it can be hard as other players can knock your ball away with theirs. This might be a hard game as we cats like to chase the balls. I do ask the dogs not to grab the balls and run as it ruins the game.

Later this afternoon we will be taking a trip to the city of Pisa where we will play a game "Tip the Tower". Are you strong enough to push it over?


This eveing, in the family room, there will be a viewing of the BEST ITALIAN FILM EVER; "La Vita é Bella" (Life is Beautiful). Click the video below for preview.

The party will going on all day and into the night. You are welcome to stay as long as you like. Please feel free to bring guests, this is a celebration of our life in Italy and EVERYONE is welcome.

We hope you have a wonderful time and look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.

-Roscoe (and Opus too)

Ciao America!

Three years ago today our lives changed forever. It was on this day that we said good bye to our family and left for Italy. It was hard to leave, but we knew that where our human went, we had to follow.

Saying goodbye to our family at the airport; us with our human, her brother and parents (her sister-in-law was there too and took the photo). This was taken before we were stuffed into our cages.

She stuffed us into two, separate cages (in compliance with airline rules) and then had to check us in with rest of her bags. Because we are such big, strong, manly cats we were over the "in cabin weight limit". Our human worried about the entire flight, but what she didn't know was that we had better seats than she did!

We spotted a beautiful flight attendant and put on our best sad faces. She felt so bad for us that she sweet talked the pilot into letting us ride in the cabin; not just any cabin, the FIRST CLASS cabin. Roscoe and I ate caviar and drank champagne the entire flight. Soon I got tired and slept while Roscoe entertained himself on the foot rest.

Nothing but the best for us! Our poor human was stuck back in coach!

It was so very hard to leave our family and friends behind in America, but coming to Italy is the best (and most interesting) thing that has ever happened to us. We now have a pure bred Italian male to help care for us and our female has never been happier. And happy humans equals happy cats.

We still miss America, but have come to feel right at home in Italy!

On our way to our new home!

**Don't forget to stop by our pizza party tomorrow to celebrate our movaversary**

All Souls Day

"As long we we can love each other, and remember the feeling of love we had, we can die without ever really going away. All the love you created is still there. All the memories are still there. You live on-in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here".

-Morris S. Schwartz:
Tuesdays With Morrie

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Today it is another religous holiday in Italy, All Souls Day or the Day of the Dead. Though this holiday isn't well known in America, it is a huge holiday in predominantly Catholic countries.

It is a day set a side to remember and pray for loved ones who have gone before us. In Mexico, families gather at the graveside of dead relatives to sing, play music, drink, picnic and even pray. In Italy, the day is marked by a visit to the cemetery where flowers and candles are placed on the tombs of loved ones gone from this world.

Since it is a day to remember the dead, we wanted to share with you our special memories of a beloved friend who left this world several years ago. Till still makes us sad when we think of her, but we are thankful for many memories we have and the time we shared together. This is her story.

When our human was growing up, she never had pet larger than a hamster; and aren't those just snacks anyway? The simple reason was that her father was very allergic; cats and dogs were out of the question. But our human just adored animals and pined away for a pet of her own to love and care for. At last when she was twelve years old, her best friend got a dog and that is what got the ball rolling. That dog was a Lhasa apso and her parents were told that this breed of dog was perfect for people with allergies because there was no shedding and not much dander.

After a lot of begging and pleading, her parents decided to give it a try. At last after all of those years, she would have a dog of her own to love.

They adopted a cute, little, sandy brown Lhasa apso and named her Little Miss Muffett. The entire family fell head over heels for the tiny creature and it wasn't long before Muffy (her nickname) came to rule the house.

Our human spent many wonderful years with Muffett. She spent a lot time teaching the dog an entire list of tricks, and she was always impressed with how quick Muffet was able to pick them up. She really was a smart dog.

Of course the day came when our human grew older and it was time for her to go out on her home. Muffett stayed behind, left to keep our human's parents company.

Enter Opus and I.

Opus and I were Christmas gifts to our human. She lived alone and we came to keep her company. It was a perfect match right from the start. Little did we know that there was already a pet in our human's heart; even worse, it was a dog.

Not long after Opus and I came to live with our human, she took us for a ride. We drove a short ten minutes before arriving at our "Grandparent's house". Imagine our surprise when we went inside and saw this big-bag-of-fur-of-a-dog waiting to greet us. She growled, we hissed and everyone was off on the wrong the foot, er paw. The funniest part of our encounter was that this 15 pound dog was afraid of a couple of kittens! Oh sure, she would growl at us, but only when we walked away!

We never really fought with Muffett on our visits, but we never really got along either. The humans were always careful to keep one ear open, just in case things turned ugly. Then something happened that changed the way we felt about each other......

In the kitchen, way up high on the counter top, was a Tupperware bowl full of doggie treats. Of course Muffett couldn't reach them, but we could. Opus and I jumped up on the counter and knocked the Tupperware bowl on to the floor. Then Muffet used her smarts and strength to open the Tupperware. The three of us were chowing down on dog treats when the humans walked in and caught us.

From that day forward, we were friends forever. We played together, ate together and even curled to sleep together. We are not ashamed to say that Muffett, a sweet little dog, was the bestest friend we ever had.

Muffett ended up sick as she got older. She came down with diabetes and she became to allergic to grass and flea bites! Twice a day she had to have a shot of insulin and a gulp of benadryl. Her humans were so consistent about giving her the medicine, that not only did she out live the doctor's prediction, but she lived longer than what is normal for a dog of her breed.

Sadly her life to came to end and she went to cross the rainbow bridge. It happened when our human was in Italy for the very first time. It broke her heart to come home and find out that her very first pet had passed away. Lucky that Opus and I were there to help dry her tears.


And so today we remember our dear friend Little Miss Muffett, who taught us that dogs can be just as wonderful as us cats. We love her, miss her and know that she is watching down on us.

We also want to stop and remember our dear friend Mia who suddenly passed away this week. We were shocked and saddened by the news and we are keeping her family in our thoughts and puurayers.



Thinking also of Miss Anastasia, a beautiful cat who we never had the chance to know. She still comes to visit time to time from beyond the rainbow bridge.




And Buddy, the outdoor cat who kept our Grandma company. About a month ago he was found on Granny's porch curled up and very sick. The animal rescue man seemed to think that Buddy had gotten into posion. It is our hope that he recovered from his illness, but we will never know for sure. And we don't really want to know.

To all of our friends who have crossed the rainbow bridge, we love and miss you so very much.

It is never easy to say good bye, but we hope that memories of our loved ones will carry us through the dark nights and their love will burn forever in our hearts.

All Saints Day

Did you know that Italy is the seat of the Catholic church? The Pope lives in Rome in his very own, mini-country called "The Vatican". Because of this, Italy is a very religious country with Catholicism as its number one religion.

For that reason, there are many religious holidays in Italy. Our human is off from work for the rest of the week because of two, back to back holidays. The first one is today and it is called "All Saints Day".

Since it is All Saints Day, we wanted to share with you a couple of our most beloved Saints.

Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals. He was an Italian man who was born in a town just a couple of hours south of where were live, called Assisi. Saint Francis was a hardworking man who accomplished many things in his life and worked hard to serve his fellow man, but it was his love for animals that he is best known for. They say that he would go into the woods and preach to the animals because they were, after all, God's creatures too. There is a legend that the birds loved the sound his voice and would surround him as he spoke. And they say that on his death bed he thanked his donkey for helping him throughout his life. And the donkey wept.




Our other favorite saint is Saint Gertrude of Nivelles. We don't really know too much about her other than she was a faithful servant of God, she lead a quiet and closed off life and that she died at the young age of 33 (the same age our human is now). She hated mice and worked hard to get rid of them, maybe because they were full of disease. Because of this, you will always see painting of mice at her feet or a cat nearby. We guess that is why she the Patron Saint of cats.



So furry friends, it is nice to know that even the great Saints are keeping an eye out for all of us furry creatures!

You Are Personaly Invited

Click in the image to view a larger invitation

In the summer of 2004, my brother and I started to notice some changes around our home. At first it was little things, like our human giving away some clothes, dishes and other small items from our home. As fall approached, the smaller items turned into bigger ones and we became alarmed; you KNOW how we cats hate changes. After the couch and our human's bed made their way out of our home, we were down right scared. Something was rotten in Indy and we didn't like it one bit.

It wasn't long before our home was completely empty. All that was left was our human, my brother and I, and two cat cages. We had no idea where we were going, we just knew we were leaving. Roscoe and I didn't know it, but we were about to embark on the largest journey of our lives.

That journey started with a trip to our Grandparent's home, two hours away in northern Indiana. We were guests there for three days, during which my brother and I hid under the guest bed. Then we were placed in the car for a three hour drive to Chicago before being stuffed into the belly of an airplane for eight hours! We were never so terrified in all our lives! Can you believe that we made the entire trip without eating, drinking or even going to the bathroom? Needless to say, our human was very worried about us when we were reunited at baggage claim.

At once, we noticed something was off. The signs we spotted were written with strange letters and the humans spoke with words we had never even heard of.

"Welcome to Italy," our human said. And that was when we realized that we weren't in Kansas anymore (figuratively speaking of course). From the airport in Milan, it was an addtional two and half hours in the car before we finally arrived at our new home.

The date was November 4, 2004.

We can't believe that it has already been three years since we said good bye to America. They have been wonderful years filled with new friends, great food, amazing adventures, tons of love and endless laughter. In celebration of our "move-a-versary, we are having a month long party on our blog. We will write about life in Italy, share our favorite recipes, go on a few adventures, host a contest, and tell you a little about our favorite Italian cities.

Kicking off the celebration will be an pizza party at our blog on Sunday, the anniversary of our landing in Italy. We hope that you can join us and will have fun learning all about our new homeland.

-Opus

Happy Halloween

We want to wish all our friends a very Happy Halloween! Even though Halloween isn't a very big deal in Italy, we aren't letting that stop us American cats from celebrating. Our human is feeling a little homesick today, so we decided to cheer her up by dressing up in our Halloween costumes.

At first we thought we would go as a pair of black cats! Maybe we can be honorary members of the House of Mostly Black Cats for the day!


In the end, we decided to stick with our Colts Fan costumes that our male human made for us because we love them (and the Colts) so much.



Later in the day, the female human is gonna carve a neat pumpkin. We don't want to get our paws dirty, so we think we will just watch. If she needs help, we can always supervise!

With it being Halloween, we decided it would be fun to tell scary stories. If you want to participate just write a scary story on your blog and then leave a comment on our blog. We will make a list of all the cat blogs with scary stories and have that posted tomorrow. The more scarier the story, the better.

And now for our scary story.....

It was a dark and stormy night. Two small, sweet cats were left home alone as their humans went out for the evening. The rain outside was relentless as it came down in buckets from the gray sky. The wind howled and battered against the windows as the lights inside the house flickered on and off a few times, then they went out all together.

The poor frightened cats cowered close together hoping the mean storm would soon pass, but it was Halloween night and the storm showed no signs of leaving anytime soon.

Several hours passed when the cats heard a loud, heart wrenching sound. It was a sound so terrible, so awful, so devastating that I almost dare not write of it. It was the sound of grumbling belly.

The cats were afraid to leave the safety of the bed but, in the end, they were more afraid of starving to death. Carefully and ever so quietly they tip-toed through the darkened hallway, slowly making their way to their food bowls. The cats could hear the rain as it beat hard against the roof top; they feared that a drop just might pass through the ceiling and land on their dry little heads. Even with the fear of water looming nearby, the brave little cats pressed on.

Suddenly, a deafening clap came from out of no where followed by a flash of bright light. The cats stop dead in their tracks, frozen with fear. They stood there motionless for at least five minuets, moving on only when they where completely sure the lightening had passed.

At last they spotted their food bowls at the end of the long hall way. A full moon, partly covered by scary black clouds peaked in through the window, giving the cats a little more light with which to see by. Slowly they tip-toed towards their food bowl, bellies growling louder with each step. And then they saw it.

They saw something so scary, so terrifying that they fainted at once. I fear little kitty that you might do the same if tell you the rest of the story. Shall I continue?

Have it your way.

What the cats saw was none other than a big, dark,...............................

EMPTY FOOD BOWL!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Wasn't that a scary story?

Happy Halloween!

Special Addition of Dear Opus and Roscoe

A few days ago we were visiting our friend Karl, when we noticed a message on his blog about a friend of his who is sick. We clicked on the link and found ourselves on the blog of Miss Peach and immediately fell in love with her; she is a sweet cat with an old soul and a kind heart. Even though we just met her, we are very sad to hear that she isn't feeling well and left her a note of well wishes. Can you believe that with all of the problems going on in her life, that she took a moment to come visit us? Miss Peach left a heartfelt message and also asked us for some advise. When we were done reading her note all of us, including our humans, had tears in our eyes. We thought it was a touching comment and wanted to share it with our readers. We hope that she doesn't mind.

This is what Miss Peach wrote:

Dearest Farm boys in Italy! I am so happy to know you and thank you for the nice visit to my sick bed. Karl is a wonderful friend.

I wonder if you could tell me how I can get my mommy to stop fussing over me? I have lived a good and happy life full of anything a kitty can wish for. Now that I feel the journey to the Heaveyside layer is beginning for me....she is just being so selfish by wanting me to stay here. I will send her a new kitty as soon as I get there to fill the void, but she will not hear of it. Any help would be welcome on this sad subject.

Oh and please send me some good Romano chesse:)

Love the little Miss Peach



Dear Miss Peach,
First we want to tell how sorry we are that you are not feeling well. We hope and pray that this isn't the beginning of your journey to the Heaveyside layer. Please feel better soon, we are only just getting to know you.

As for your human, what can we say? As cats, or any pet, we NEED our humans for shelter, food, safety, comfort and love. But what you must understand is that this relationship we have with the humans is very much a two-way street. They need us just as much, if not more, as we need them. They depend on us for friendship, laughter, companionship and, most importantly, unconditional love. It is understandable that your human doesn't want to let you go, she needs you. Let her baby you. Let her spoil you, comfort you, snuggle you, kiss you and take care of you. Enjoy every moment you have with her and in the end, should you make your sad journey to the Heaveyside layer, your human will know in her heart that she did everything she could.

This is one of our favorite songs from our favorite musical, Cats. We dedicate it to you Miss Peach and hope that the beautiful voice of Elaine Paige makes you feel better. And when your tummy is ready, we will send you a big chunk of Romano cheese!

Take care Miss Peach and please, feel better soon.
Love,
Opus and Roscoe

Monday Morning Advice

Today's letter comes to us from a cat who does NOT enjoy Halloween.

Dear Opus and Roscoe,
I always get a bit nervous this time of the year. You see, Halloween frightens me a bit. It is bad enough that there are scary decorations and mean pumpkins lurking about in our home, but then there is one evening where an endless stream of terrifying looking children come ringing our doorbell and screaming for free treats. What is a cat to do on Halloween night?
Sincerely,
Scardy Cat

Dear Scardy Cat,
We understand just how nerve racking Halloween night can be. Though there isn't anything that we can do to stop Halloween from coming, there are a few things that the humans can do to keep us four legged creatures happy. For starters, it might help to place your pet in a bedroom during the trick or treat hours. Then you won't have to worry about them running out of the door while you are passing out treats. Turning the television on can help reduce the noise your pet might hear. You know how ringing doorbells can get us excitied. If you have more than one human in the house, have one man the door for trick or treaters while the other one stays in the bedroom and lavishes his attention upon your nervous pet. Hand feed your sweet animal a good dose of treats to keep their mind off of all the racket and, if you have a cat, a good helping of catnip might just take the edge off of the night.

We hope these tips will help you to have a fun Halloween while keeping your frightened pets happy. Best wishes Scardy Cat and Happy Halloween to all!

Love,
Opus and Roscoe


***Have a problem with your human or questions on how to care for your human? Write to Opus and Roscoe at catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com and they will give you a response in their Monday morning advise column.***

Party Time!

Opus and I are all dressed up for Sassy Cat's first ever Halloween party. It is an open house going on all day and into the night, so be sure to stop on in and join us for some fun. Looking forward to seeing you there!

-Roscoe

Happy Halloween (go Colts)!

Peace on Earth

Opus: I saw this video and it really touched my heart. We cats get blamed for a lot of bad things, but this video shows that we do have a soft, sweet side. I thought it was magnificent that this cat adopted a "litter" of baby chicks and is doing its best to keep them warm.



Roscoe: The owner forgot to check the cat's mouth! There is only one word I can think of when I watch this video; SMORGASBORD!

Opus: Clearly the cat isn't eating the chick Roscoe. Don't be so pessimistic; your glass if always half empty.


Roscoe: I'm not pessimistic, I am very optimistic. I'm optimistic that the cat's mouth is half full!

Monday Morning Advice

This week's "Dear Opus and Roscoe" email comes to us from our friends Victor and Bonnie from Victor Underfoot and Bonnie Tabbycat. Victor writes:

Deer Opus an Roscoe,
My sisfur "Bonnie" an I get a little stinky goodness cat food efurry day, but Mom doesn't gif us the whole can, so sumtimes the food's reely cold an kinda old when she gifs it to us. How can we confince her to give us the whole can at once? If she insists on safin it, do you know anyfing she could do to make it taste good again? Cuz it's not nice to haf stinky goodness turn into stinky badness.

We already tried turnin up our noses an askin fur sum new food, but she don't go fur that.

Fanks,
Victor Tabbycat

Dear Bonnie and Victor,
The best solution would be to wait for your humans to leave the house and then help yourself to the remaining can of cat food. Though God gave us cats the gifts of great intelligence, wondrous beauty and acrobatic skills, he did NOT give the gift of thumbs. That means that we are, at times, at the mercy of our less-than-equal humans. The obvious answer is to make so much noise that your humans will eventually give in. The problem with that is it might backfire. When we have had kitchen protests, it usually ended with us being thrown out of the kitchen.

If your humans insist on giving you day-old-cat-food, perhaps you could at least reach a compromise. Have your human mix in some fresh cat food with old the stuff to help liven it up a bit. Something else that might help is to toss the old cat food in the microwave for a few seconds. You know how we cats love our food on the slightly warm side. Do be sure to tell your humans to be careful though, you don't want to get your cute, kitty tongue burned. If they warm your food up, they should stick their finger in it to be sure it isn't hot; just make sure they wash their dirty human hands before touching your precious meal.

If humans understood what it means to be a cat, they would never try to shove day old food onto us. Living with humans isn't always easy, but with a few compromises we can all learn to live together happily.

Best of luck.
Love,
Opus and Roscoe

If you would like some advice on how to care for or deal with your humans, please write to Opus and Roscoe at catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com. Address emails as "Dear Opus and Roscoe" and then look for their response in their Monday morning advice column.

Sell Out

Well, we've done it. Opus and I have sold out. Our humans told us it was time for to start helping out financially and so we did what any cat would do. We took the easy way out. They didn't really expect us to find a job did they? There is a reason that you never hear the words "Work Cat" like you do the words "Work Dogs". Working cat is just an oxymoron.

So we have added a couple of advertisements, pubblicità as they are called in Italy. We also opened our very own Amazon Store, which we think was quite entrepreneurial of us. We chose to list some books about cats, some books about Italy and some books about cats in Italy. Aren't we clever? We also added cat goodies and toys to our list. If anyone clicks on one of our items, and then puuuurchases it, a small donation will go to yours humbly.

So now we hope those darn humans will get off our our backs and let us get back to what we do best, napping.

Hey, my brother and I have already made nine whole cents off of our google adds. At this rate, we will be able to go out and score ourselves a bag of catnip! Shhh, don't tell the humans.

-Roscoe

And the Award Goes to....

We were thrilled and honored to receive the "I love your blog" award from our friend Derby. Now it is time to pass this prestigious award along to a few other deserving cats and humans.


*Edsel, the Pooch

*Gigolo Kitty

*Kitty Limericks

*Starbuck, Torrey and Sebastian

Congratulations to you all!

They Love US!

Roscoe and I have received our very first blog award! We are sooooo excited! Our dear friend (and Colts fan) Derby presented us with the prestige "I Love Your Blog" award. And now for our acceptance speech, ah hem (clears throat of fur balls).



"My esteemed colleague, Roscoe, and I are thrilled to be awarded the coveted "I Love Your Blog" award. We have had a long, two year carer as cat blogger: years in which we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It has always been our long term goal to strive for excellence in blog writing, a goal which we have vigorously worked to accomplish. This award is an outstanding achievement because it was you, the reader, who chose to bestow it upon us. For that we thank you endlessly and are forever grateful.

As writers, it is enough to know that someone simply "likes" our blog. But to know that someone out there LOVES our blog, well there just aren't words to express how that makes us feel.

We wish to thank our humans for not only giving us a computer with which to type, but for allowing us the freedom of expression, to say what we want to say even at the cost of their own embarrassment. To our fans, thank you so much for checking in with us day to day. It is for you who we type. To the great big, kitty God in sky, thank you for our wonderful lives. We have enjoyed all nine of them. And last but not least to Derby, the fine cat who awarded us this great gift. You have made two old farm cats from Indiana very happy. And now a few words from my brother and fellow award winner." -Opus

"What? Somebody gave us an award? Really? Whooooooooooo hoooooooooooooo!!!!!! Puurs to Derby!" - Roscoe


-Roscoe

And now, who should we nominate....hmmmmmmm.

Monday's Advise Column

Welcome to the very first addition of Dear Opus and Roscoe. My brother and I recently turned 12, thus making us wise old cats. We believe that our years of living with a crazy human have given us a lot of experience and insight on living with humans. We want to help our fellow pets by offering advise to anyone who is need of help. All you have to do is send an email at catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com, and then look for your email to appear on our blog on Monday. Roscoe and I will do our best to give you sound advise on how to deal with your human problems.

We decided that the first letter we received would be the first letter that we would post. As fate would have it our very own cousin sent in the first email (honest, we aren't posting it just because he is our cousin, he really was the first).

Thank you to all of you who wrote. If your email wasn't posted today, please look for it next week.

Thank you to all who purticipated, keep those emails coming!

-Opus

The Very First "Dear Opus and Roscoe"

Today's first email comes to us from a cat in Indiana. Panther writes:

Dear Opus and Roscoe,
I have a problem that I hope you can help me with. About a year ago, my humans brought home a baby and I have slowly had to adjust to this extra person in our house. Well now she walks and talks and wants to climb all over me. I know I can't hurt her or my humans will be mad. She likes to lay all over me and chase me whenever she can. I have included a picture of her laying on top of me. Do you have any suggestions for putting up with this human?
Sincerely,
Panther

(Evidence: exhibit A- The human in this video is not saying "shoot her" as in with a gun, but rather "shoot her" as in "take the picture").

Dear Panther,
We hate to sound mean, but if you would have spaid and neutered your humans when you first got them, this wouldn't even be an issue. It is very important to be a responsible human owner. It is too late to look back now, as the damage has been done. We are afraid to tell you that you are simply stuck with this tiny human and will have to deal with it as best you can. If you, in any way, act out against this little, love-monster, it will surely be the quickest way to get kicked out of the house. This is a delicate situation and must be dealt with carefully. What you must remember is that the little human, though it may be annoying at times, is just in love with you. And rightfully so, you are a beautiful cat. Since she hasn't learned how to express her feelings better, the only way she can tell you she loves you is by showing you, hence the "snuggling". Maybe if you look at it from this perspective, it won't seem so bad. As for the chasing, she is just after another hug. Once in a while stop and let her have it. It isn't easy living with humans, but it is something that we must do. As life changes (like a tiny human comes to live in your house) as must we. It is important to remember that just because there is a baby in the house doesn't mean that your humans don't love you. There is plenty of love in their hearts for the both of you.


Best of wishes,
Opus and Roscoe

Come back next Monday for another edition of "Dear Opus and Roscoe".

What Dreams May Come

This is exactly why you shouldn't each a sausage, cheese, mushroom and tuna pizza right before bed! It makes for a long (but interesting) night. Think this evening I will just have a cup of cafe latte!



Roscoe

New: Cat Naps in Italy Pet Advise Column

Opus and Roscoe understand what it means to be a magnificent animal stuck living with a silly human. They have spent the past twelve years putting up with one and have learned a lot over the years. They are ready to share their experience and knowledge with any pet having problems cohabiting with humans.

If you have a question, concern or human-behavior problem, now you can write to the boys and they will answer your emails right here on Cat Naps in Italy. Send your emails to catnapsinitaly@yahoo.com with the subject titled "Dear Opus and Roscoe".

Every Monday the boys will pick an email to answer on their blog and, don't worry, you don't even have to give them your real name.

Send your emails in now, the first installment of "Dear Opus and Roscoe" will be held the following Monday.

Opus and Roscoe, saving pets from their crazy humans one animal at a time.

**The purpose of Cat Naps in Italy Pet Advise Column is to give pets advise on their humans, not the other way around. We are looking forward to hearing from you.**