Category Archives: Pets

Cat Colony Room Designs

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It’s happening! Remember me telling you about the Humane Society makeover in progress with the Building Better Lives campaign hosted by Purina Cat Chow? (I shared about it here.)That’s where I’ll be this week, pitching in and lending a hand. Maybe a cat snuggle or two in there somewhere. 

Purina Building Better Lives

Oh goodness…the kitties! I want to pack them all up in my suitcase to bring home with me! So.much.adorable-ness. I can’t stand it!

kittens - #purinacatchow #buildingbetterliveskitten #myrescuestory #purinacatchow

 

I’ve had the pleasure of working on three cat colony room designs and what a fun challenge! The adoption center is the largest in the stage of Minnesota has been working to transform the institutional look to a more fun, modern, comfortable streamlined process. So exciting! 

Here are the rooms before…

cat colony room 3 before cat colony room 2 before cat colony room 1 before

And here were some of the room designs…

cat corner on the catwalkRoom 1 back left cat colony 2Room 2 - back right cat colony 2Room 3 - glass cat colonyScreen Shot 2014-07-17 at 1.18.44 PMRoom 1Room 2Room 3

Fun, right? I’ll be sharing which plans were approved. Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly and according to plan! 

The grand reveal is coming up! Stay tuned! 

Purina Building Better Lives

There’s still time for you to share your rescue story. Just use this: #myrescuestory with a photo of your sweet pet(s) on social media. Here’s my rescue story. Once 1500 #myrescuestory tags are reached, Purina Cat Chow will donate $50,000 to Petfinder.com! Let’s help these cuties find homes!

#MyRescueStory {and Pet DIY}

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Meet: CocoRosie or as we call her, “Rosie”. An Italian Greyhound.

CocoRosie - diyshowoff

Ever since we lost our beloved doxie (Niski) a few years back, I’ve been wanting to open our hearts and home to another dog but just didn’t feel ready. I was just heartbroken. Even now when I think about her, my eyes tear up. I loved that little sausage dog.

When I truly began to settle down into my empty nest, it just felt too quiet. I mean, Lalka, our ragdoll cat is super sweet but most days, she has her own agenda, comes out of hiding or wakes up from napping and plays on her own terms. Cats are so independent. When she’s not bullying the dog, she’s hunting mice but mostly, she’s enjoying cat naps. Or as the baby of our family, looking to get into mischief.

Meet “Lalka”:

Lalka at diyshowoff.com

And a lot of times, she’s supervising my DIY projects…just to make sure I’m doing things right. 

tiling bathroom floor

diy cat window perch

DIY Cat Window Perch

and always ready for her photo op….

lalka.ps3_.jpg

DIY photo backdrop

lalka.ps1 

Meet: Sneaks. And you may not know this, but we actually have a second cat. His name is Sneaks. He was rescued/adopted by my husband before we met. He is super sweet. He currently resides at my husband’s office (he loves people but isn’t a fan of other animals) so he has taken to welcoming and putting clients at ease. He takes his job as VP of public relations very seriously. 

sneaks

I started considering welcoming a dog into our lives again. However this time I knew I’d prefer to rescue an adult rather than adopt a puppy and so the hunt began.

Italian Greyhound Rosie

I saw an Italian Greyhound who needed a home on Craig’s List. Unfortunately by the time I called, he already had a new home but it got me to researching the breed a little more. And the breed seemed like a good fit. It seemed as if we had a lot in common!

Italian Greyhounds:

  • Small in size.
  • Short fur/little shedding.
  • Imaginative.
  • Funny.
  • Snuggly and affectionate.
  • Gentle.
And after more research, I discovered a local/tri-state Italian Greyhound Rescue. After more thought, I finally applied. The adoption process was more than I anticipated with paperwork and a home visit but understandingly so. Our home visit was completed by a friendly IG loving/owning couple in our town who brought their little guy with them for us to meet. He was just so irresistible, the couple so kind and knowledgable. Before we knew it, we were approved!
 
I was looking for an adult female Iggy. It took about 3-4 months before we found her. 
 
Lucky for us, that same couple that did our home visit began to foster Italian Greyhounds in our town and had a sweet little girl. 
 
I was nervous. I was hesitant. Would I love a new dog as much as I loved our dachshund? Would she be a good fit to our laid back, boring life?
 
Name: CocoRosie
Breed: Italian Greyhound
Age: 8 years old
Weight: 10 lbs.
Favorite past time: Burrowing under the blankets, sleeping. 
italian-greyhound-cocorosie
 
Then I met her. 10 lbs. of the sweetest little dog. Calm. Relaxed. So well behaved. 
canopied patio swing
 
I fell head over heels in love with her. She is super sweet! Those big brown eyes. Her personality is so similar to our doxie…even down to the love of burrowing under the blankets! And guess what – she is perfectly house trained as well! Bonus!
 
And they aren’t kidding when they call IGs “velcro dogs”. If I’m on the couch, she’s on the couch. If I get up to go to another room, she follows.  If I walk out the door, her nose is looking out the French door glass. If I’m on the patio, she’s right there. She never leaves my side. 

Rosie has been enjoying some attention here at DIYShowOff…

DIY Dog Bed 
DIY shaded Dog Bed
 
You’ll spy a greyhound silhouette in a few DIY tutorials (one coming up soon too)…
Framed Pet Silhouettes on Burlap
 

fabric interfacing tutorial 

She is always by my side for the past year and a half. I think I’ll keep her. 😉  Let’s hear more about your pet!
 
Have you rescued a pet? Share a picture using the #myrescuestory. For more details, check out the Building Better Lives campaign. 

Building Better Lives Campaign

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DIYShowOff is excited to be partnering with Purina Cat Chow in the Building Better Lives program! Woo hoo!

Purina Building Better Lives

Wait. What is it?

Purina Cat Chow is committed to helping improve the lives of cats across the country by supporting 50 cat-focused shelters nationwide (FIFTY!) – one in every state – and donating $275,000 in renovation and adoption support, product and monetary donations as well as a possible $50,000 donation to The Petfinder Foundation, for a total donation of up to $325,000. WOW! 

Bri and I are dedicated to helping in anyway we can to spread the word. If we could, we would bring home ALL of these cuties with us.

kitten #myrescuestory #purinacatchow

Purina Cat Chow identified three of the participating 50 shelters for on-site makeovers of their cat facilities valued at $50,000 each or $150,000 total. The makeovers will include custom changes and upgrades to meet the specific needs for each facility. And Bri and I will be lending a hand! 

To celebrate the completion of each makeover, Purina Cat Chow will conduct a “Building Better Lives” adoption event at each organization whereby the brand will help local cats find a new home during the event. Members of the Purina Cat Chow brand team will volunteer their time and talents at each renovation and adoption event. Sweet, right?

Plus! Purina Cat Chow will donate up to $50,000 to The Petfinder Foundation if from now until Sept. 2,  at least 1,500 stories are shared with the brand’s social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) using the hashtag #myrescuestory. This donation will be used to support 50 Petfinder.com shelters to help support future cat adoption fees. If you’re a pet lover, you’ve no doubt browsed the pets looking for homes on their site. Let’s raise awareness to get these sweet animals into loving homes!

Each participating shelter will also receive a donation valued at $2,500 – $2,000 in cash to support future cat adoptions and $500 worth of Purina Cat Chow brand cat food.

There’s a HUGE makeover going on at the Golden Valley Humane Society in Minnesota and Bri & I have the opportunity to lend a hand. Here are a few of the before pictures from the Adoption Center: 

animal shelter lobby before animal shelter space before

Just wait until you see how they’re working to transform this cold and sterile looking environment into a new beautiful modern design with streamlined adoption process! As one of the largest animal shelter centers in the state, making the process effortless and smooth will help to increase the adoption rate. 

More before…

Cat Shelter Beforecat shelter makeover - before

What a blessed and generous campaign! And we’re so honored to be included! We’ve been assigned to makeover three cat colony rooms.

Before…

cat colony room 1 before cat colony room 2 before cat colony room 3 before

How can you get involved? Purina Cat Chow encourages you to share YOUR rescue story on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #myrescuestory . 

kittens - #purinacatchow #buildingbetterlives

Stay tuned for a few fun cat friendly design boards and the unbelievable transformation at the Humane Society grand opening event in Golden Valley, MN!  

*This post is sponsored by Purina Cat Chow. We’re partnering with Purina Cat Chow to spread the word and raising awareness about the awesome Building Better Lives program.