Thursday, May 24, 2012

Book Review And Give-Away! Organizing the Care of My Cat by Morgan T. Orr and Penelope Orr Spry, Authors of the WiseUp! Workbook Series

For those of us in the U.S., the Memorial Day holiday is the unofficial kick-off of the summer season! That means warm weather, lazy days at the beach, picnics, baseball, family outings and vacations!


Vacations! Ugh! I hear that word and the first thing I think is "Who is going to take care of Cody and Dakota when my husband and I are away?"  When I had my first cat, (Bobo) I am ashamed to say that I took as few vacations as possible, mostly because I didn't feel that ANYONE could take as good of care of Bobo as I could.

I would be a nervous wreck  before my departure,  what if they can't find this? What if they don't know what this meow means?  During said "vacation", instead of leisurely sipping Mai Tais and being lulled by the sound of waves hitting the shore, my stomach would be churning like a whirlpool.

If you are like me, when you leave notes for a pet sitter, they are typed or chicken-scratched on umpteen pieces of paper which are taped to cupboards or strewn on counters.   All  (or most) of the pertinent information about your cat is there, but it isn't neatly arranged, and I bet there are things not on the list that you didn't  realize were missing until you were winging your way to your destination, thousands of miles away.

With vacation season at-the-ready, the BlogPaws 2012 conference just a few weeks away, even severe storms/tornadoes, and other unthinkable disasters  can cause you to suddenly be separated from your beloved pet.

What are we to do?

I have the PURRFECT  solution to this problem!


A few weeks ago I was contacted by WiseUp! Workbooks and they asked me if I would be interested in featuring their Organizing the Care of My Cat Workbook on  Cat Chat.

I admit at first I was skeptical.

That lasted until the book arrived
.
This book is SERIOUSLY  AMAZING!

The workbook   has ALL of the "important information you should provide for the care of your cat  in the event of your absence-planned or otherwise."

It is your pet sitter's   "Wise" guide. They are NOT kidding!

They have thought of information that many of us wouldn't think of.  All you do is just fill in the blanks. Once you fill out the information it is all in one place...IN the workbook, it is NOT strewn on counters or taped haphazardly throughout your home!

Take a look at some of the chapters in this handy workbook:
  •  Information About My Cat-which has info such as,  date of birth,  whether or not the cat is a rescue , is the cat  Microchipped?  Is the cat an indoor or outdoor cat? It even has an area to attach a photo of your cat  which would be important if the unthinkable happened, your cat runs away or is separated from the kennel or sitter in some other way.
  • Rescue Information if your cat was rescued it has an area to list the name of the rescue center or shelter and blanks for phone number, email, contact person, etc.
  •  Emergency Contact Information
  •   My Cat's Personality- questions include: is my cat good with strangers? Children? Dogs? Other cats?
  •  Daily Routine and Schedule
  • Feeding Instructions- what time is breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? What type of food? Canned? Dry? How Much to feed?
  • List and Location of My  Cat's Supplies- 
  • we all cover this verbally, but what happens when the person you were sharing the info with wasn't paying complete attention and they later forget? Yes,. this DOES HAPPEN  (especially with HUSBANDS! or any inattentive significant other!)
  • Health Care and Pet Insurance Information
  • Financial Arrangements-we don't like to think about this but it is a necessity. Even I had never given this issue serious thought until I received this workbook.
  • Legal Trust for My Cat  (sample Trust included)
And More...
The back of the work book has a handy RESOURCE section that includes websites for:
  • Litter Boxes and Supplies
  • Cat Grooming Tools and Supplies
  • Pet Insurance
  • Cat  Medications
  • Pet Legal Trusts
I wish I had this book when my husband and I vacationed last February. I know my friend who took care of Dakota and Cody in our absence would have greatly appreciated this workbook because the folks at WiseUp! have thought of EVERYTHING!

Now that I have a place to organize everything for Cody and Dakota...I wish someone would make a workbook for organizing the care of ME!


To purchase, visit WiseUp! Workbooks right here
ISBN : 978-1-937755-01-0 
Number of pages : 50
Price : $12.99

GIVE-AWAY!! The nice folks at WiseUp! will give one workbook to one winner in either the U.S. or Canada.  To be eligible, leave a comment telling me why you want to win this workbook and a way for me to contact you should you be the winner. Deadline to Enter is  Monday, June 4th  at 11pm EST. Winner will be announced WEDNESDAY ,  JUNE 6TH!

Good luck!!

and Happy Travels!


I was not compensated for this review. I was sent a workbook to keep and review. All opinions are my own.

30 comments:

  1. MOWZERS! Mommy thinks this would be a purrfect addition to an emergency pet kit, too! And we're very intereted in the Pet Trust. Allie says she's interested in the financial stuff too - she needs more bling.

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  2. Sounds interesting, I'm sure that this will help everyone :D



    Dog Shock Collar | Puppy & Human Bond

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  3. We think it would be a great book to have, just for emergencies. So that is why we would like one. We hope those cat bikinis are sold by the set, and not tops and bottoms separately!

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  4. Boy, I think Glogirly better go out and get this book right away!!! I'm hearing talk of a road trip. A LONG one. That means the evil cat sitter. UGH. What if she doesn't know about my salmon needs???
    ; ) Katie

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  5. I am happy to visit your blog ... very interesting to me and funny

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  6. It's always good to be well prepared for any eventualities when it comes to our pets! So yay for this book and thanks for your review! Take care
    x

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  7. What a great idea. This book would be especially helpful for emergencies, or if/when one has to travel or move with cats.

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  8. WOW...what a great idea - a "one stop" reference for someone who either is in the position of providing for our pet as a holiday caretaker or even if something should (heaven forbid) happen to us when we're away from home. I'd want them to know EVERYTHING about Sammy and this seems a great way to assemble the whole picture for anyone! By the way, the picture of the two "bathing beauties" in their multiple-top bikinis has always been one of my favorites! Tee Hee.....You can of course let me know I'm the winner (!!) via email Caren. Thanks for the WONDERFUL review of this workbook.

    Pam (and Sam)

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  9. What a BRILLIANT idea this book is, Caren! Like you, I worry myself into a frenzy when both my husband and I take a vacation together. (Not ashamed to admit that I always call and leave voice messages for my furbaby on the answering machine, either, LOL!)
    Those typed-out lists (of which I'm so good at making ;D) can be found on tables, taped to the cabinets, thumbtacked to the wall by the litterboxes--you name it!--so, a fabulously-complete handbook, with everything neatly organized and in one place, sounds perfect.
    Could I use a book like this? Yes! I really think I could. :) xoxo

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  10. This sounds like an awesome book to have to organize all your cat's information!

    I would love to win this book so that I can organize all my babies' information in case I ever go out of town and need someone to care for my precious fur babies. :)

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  11. OMG Karen, that first picture cracks me up!
    Hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend!

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  12. Love love love your first picture!!!

    Dont you think we do it all year round as we have summer from the first day of the year till the last day of the year? LOL.

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  13. I've just come back from a great adventure,I stayed at my grand mums (my mum's mum)for 2 whole weeks and it was fun can't wait to tell you all about it!

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  14. Interesting bathing suits there... I take it you have to shop at stores where tops & bottoms are sold separately? purrs

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  15. That is such a good idea and we would love to have one. Thanks so much for offering this to us. It is so hard to find the right person to take care of the fur babies. Take care.

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  16. This book sounds very wise! It's a great idea to organize all the information. I agree about inattentive husbands/significant other. Haha..
    The picture of kitties with bikinis is hilarious!!

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  17. This book would be great for my son to have for his cat so we have a good reference when sitting for his cat!

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  18. this looks like a great thing to have, besides me, we have a few kitties too and mom keeps meaning to list our different needs and likes.

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  19. That sure sounds like a very useful book. I went for a short trip (just 2 nights) some years ago and asked this lady to look after Whisky. When I got back and went to pick her up, she had diarrhea, she was afraid and she would hide when I turned on the stove. :( A few years later, I found a very good pet sitter who stayed at our home to look after all our furries (oh yes I left her with a few pages worth of "information". Sadly, she doesn't pet sit anymore. :(

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  20. That looks like a great idea. HH could really use that book. We do like to stay more organized that she usually manages, so we'd like to win the contest to make hei important information to save about us.

    pawhugs, Max, Bugsy, and Knuckles

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  21. What a wonderful giveaway Cody and Caren! That looks like a fantastic book and we are very detailed here at Headquarters so it looks like there is finally a place to document all kinds of stuff in one place so the Human could feel better in her absence. (PS: We love Cody's lilac tie and the pics from many moons ago...)

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  22. OMC! Mom needs this book. She's so unorganized it's not funny.

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  23. Cody you and Caren always have the neatest give a ways. This one is very useful too. wow whoever the winner is will get something that will help out lots!
    purrs
    >^,,^<
    ♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥

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  24. what a great book...very nice

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  25. Wow--this is a great idea! The Ladies Next Door usually takes really, really good care of me, but what if somebody else has to do it? OMC! They would not know anything!! Yes, we would luff to win that book! XOXOXOXO

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  26. Really? Have we become so OCD we have to have a book to tell us how to go on leave our pets with a professional caretaker?

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  27. @rumpy it's not"OCD" it's ORGANIZED. I'm obviously not purrfect and although I leave copious notes when I go away...there could be something that I have forgotten and this book points out those things. Better informed translates to better care!

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  28. Organized? What is that? MOL! It does sound seriously good! I hope your waterboarding helps!

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  29. Oh this is wonderful...to have ALL that information in one safe place.

    I honestly had rather stay home than think my babies are not well taken care of...a feeling I'm sure we've all had : (

    ♥toni
    rivercityt-shirts@att.net

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