Photo by Mary Ellen "Angel Scribe"
Lanaye and Morag are Pippa's staff at the Wild Birds' shop!

Thirteen-year-old Phillipa's name is Greek for "horse lover", but she's not! Instead, Phillipa is a lover of birds who was selected from many cats for the paw-fessional job of protecting bird's food from mice.  She was hired on as a shelter rescue ten years ago. She had big paws to fill. Her purr-evious feline purr-edessesor, Sox, had "gifted" the Wild Birds Unlimited shop with 29 micey-gifts over her working career.

But like humans, Phillipa has her own style.  She considers "the gifts" to be her midnight snacks, so her trophy record remains purr-ivate. Oh, and she has catitude and purr-furs to be re-furr-ed to by her nick name Pippa.

Morag, who has worked at the shop as long as Pippa, recalls, "We ran a contest to name our new redheaded employee.

Customer suggestions were fun like Mouser and Emilia Mouseheart, and her honey-coloured coat inspired Honey, Ginger and Ginny. Then one day a four year old girl came into the shop with her grandmother. The girl took one look at the new mouser and confidently declared, "I have a nice name. It is Pippa", and she won!

Most customers, once seeing Pippa sleeping in one of her favorite locations, exclaim, ‘My goodness!  A cat in a bird store! Does it eat birds?'.

But seriously hadn't they noticed that there are NO birds in our store? Paws-ibly a mouse or two, but the birds are 100% safe.

Pippa now has quite a following. As soon as customers enter "her" store they inquire, "Where is the pussycat?" before they look for their purr-chases. Some have dropped in for a word with Pippa, bring her a treat, and make sure she has enough attention for the day.

I must admit I always ask "Where is Pippa?" upon entering the shop for more bird seed.  We have three cats and our bird feeders MUST be stocked to keep their entertaining KBiRD TV channel on 24 hours a day.

In the afternoon, Pippa catches the sun's rays in the window display, but most of the time she naps beside the cash register for maximum customer petting exposure.

Pippa is purr-fectly happy with her full time job of snoopervising staff, scaring mice away and saying "Meow" to customers. "I love my fan club," said Pippa, "especially the ones who bring me treats and catnip toys."

Pippa's Bird Tips

- Birds need water all year round in the winter, both for drinking and for keeping their feathers clean and intact.  A water fountain or mister attracts more birds than still water (bird bath).

- Bird and feed stores sell heaters for birdbaths to prevent water from freezing.

- Birds eat more before flying south in the winter.

- Forest fires drive birds to new areas for their food source. 

- Chickadees stash sunflower seeds in tree bark, under dead leaves, and in the ground, only to dig them up later and eat when it snows.

-  Some hummingbirds over-winter here, so keep their feeders full with a simple white sugar and water mixture. One part sugar to four parts water is the safest and best ratio. NO food coloring. Toss out any cloudy mixture as it harbors fungus. Wash feeders with hot water/soap/vinegar.

- Hummers get their protein from eating insects, insect eggs, and fruit flies, so the sugar water replaces the flower nectar, especially during the winter when flowers are scarce.

- Never feed ducks/swans/birds bread! It expands in their stomach and tricks them into thinking they are full without providing them any nutritional value. Visit your pet/bird/feed store for inexpensive healthy grains that they love.

- Hang bird feeders higher than six feet so cats can't jump up and pull the birds off.

- Purr-chase a colorful "Birdsbesafe" clown collar for your cats so as they stealthily move, the collar's bright colors alert birds. Works better than bells!

Mary Ellen's Silver Persians swam their way into readers and viewer's hearts! They have appeared in International magazines and newspapers around the world. (France, England, Canada, China, Germany, USA, etc.)

Also, several National and International TV shows featured the swimming felines teaching pet-water-safety. And their furry faces appeared on a line of shirts.

• Pet Tips 'n' Tales, has appeared in Oregon's "The Cottage Grove Sentinel" for 13 years. The Sentinel is an award-winning weekly newspaper.