Kitten

No urgent plea for rescue today. We need a break from that. Instead, I wanted to share with you an experience I just had that was quite wonderful, though admittedly, bittersweet, too. I'll do my best to write while my eyes burn and my throat constricts from inhaling fumes. No. I'm not writing while my house is burning down. I made the poor choice to set my oven to "self clean," which quickly caused the house to fill with pretty blue, toxic smoke. I had to shut off the heat and open the windows. It's 48°F outside and now, inside. Why can't I just live with a filthy house? I like to vacuum at night so I don't have to work as hard to make it look clean. Why do I need my oven to shine? Sheesh!

Since I'm freezing to death, typing helps keeps the circulation going in my fingers, though I think I need to get a hat. I stopped feeling my ears awhile ago.

Oh yeah, cats...so my foster room is empty and needs re-filling, I've been somewhat (you know me, hard to be subtle) quietly looking around for the next foster kittens. I looked locally, first. I really LOOKED all over the state and into NYC. Most cats were too old for me to help, so I went southward.

At Barb's (from WCR) suggestion, I reviewed a list from Jasper County in Georgia. I'm told their ACO, Karen, is super awesome and runs a very spic and span shelter. She also happened to have a LONG list of kittens available for adoption.

I went over the list once, twice, three times. I printed out each kitten's ad. I tried to do math (not easy for me!). I knew that I could take four kittens and Jennifer, with some coaxing jumped at the chance to take four kittens, too. Yes! That's a nice number, but I had twelve kittens picked out.

UGH.

After more reviewing, listing, adding, subtracting and some very powerful headaches, I cut the list down to ten. I got ahold of Karen, the ACO and we talked about those kittens. Thankfully, my job was made easier. Two of the kittens were spoken for and two that had been on the list were going to be adopted, as well. I had my eight.

But...there are a few kittens left I could not pull and I feel bad about them. I feel very bad about it. I hate to break up litters, even if they were already separated, but perhaps now that most of the kittens are gone, the ones that are left will have a better chance at finding a home? Jasper is not a High Kill Shelter, so my hopes are that all will work out.

There's LOTS of paperwork, emails, details and FUNDRAISING (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) to work out, but with any luck, in a week or so, I'll have my room filled back up with bouncing babies!

I just stuck my neck way out and you know, it's not that scary any more. Sure, I have the same old fear that I won't find these guys homes, that they will be too darn big to adopt out by the time they get here, but I gotta try.

I feel like I just got to do the best kind of online shopping! "I'll take that kitten and that kitten and oooo look! That's a cute one! Yes!"

So without any further delay...here are our newest rescues if I survive smoke inhalation, that is!

Jennifer's Crew:

My Muffins:

Will, the poor little cat who was hit by a car on Friday, is doing well. His Vet and caretaker, Dr. Anderson said that the swelling around his eye is improving and he shouldn't need corrective surgery. He has a cut on the inside of his mouth and no other injuries. Though the Dr. is fairly sure this was from the impact of a car, she can't rule out that Will wasn't hit by a person. It's a sad fact that animal abuse happens and Will might be a victim of that. We'll never really know.

What we do know is Will is going to be neutered this week! He already has his shots on board, had his "combo test" for Feline Leukemia and FIV. He failed each test beautifully! With de-worming and a dose of Revolution, Will will be ready to be adopted as soon as late this week!

We're having a tiny technical problem getting Will's ChipIn widget up and running. He won't need much in donations, so this will be an easy save for us! I hope you guys can help out once we're ready.

What Will needs more than anything, is to FIND A FOREVER HOME or to be taken in by a rescue group. Though they prefer he stays locally, Will can easily be transported anywhere in the Northeast and outside of that, transport can be arranged, as well.

I'm told that they don't get any sweeter or more friendly than Will, so if you step up, you're getting a marvelous new friend! Later today I should have updated photos of Will to make it easier to get the word out and for his new family to fall in love with him!

I heard from both families this weekend and it was all good news. Millie and Monte are loving life in their new home. Monte is still "quacking" from his URI, but is much better. He went to the Vet on Monday for a re-check. His family just adores them both and they are both using their scratching pads and litter pan like good little kitties should.

Dylan and Dee are also getting lots of love and snuggles in their new home. They have met their new doggie friend, Lucy, but haven't spent any quality time with her. They have to stay in "their room" most of the day, but do get to run and play when it's safe to do so. To be extra careful, their mom, Nancy is going to hire a professional dog trainer to come in and work with Lucy to ensure the introduction goes smoothly. I also heard that the kittens enjoy sleeping with Nancy or her daughter whenever they get the chance and they they, too, had their Vet visit and the Vet said they looked great!

So far...so good. Yay!

Last night I met Jennifer so I could pick up Blueberry & Blackberry from her. Blue is due to be spayed in a few days and the Vet is closer to my house, so both kitties will be staying here for the next week or so. I had a nice week off of fostering, but I like things better when the foster room has guests. These two sure fit the bill.

They've both grown quite a bit, from the tiny babies we picked up from the P.E.T.S. transport two weeks ago. They're also much more socialized, though Blue needs more work. They eat like little piggies and are enjoying their new digs. This coming weekend, we're having an adoption event. It will be their first public showing and I hope it will get them in front of possible adopters.

Blue has the cutest little face! Blacberry is really really affectionate! It's just a delight to have them here, if you discount the fact that they poop about ten times more than any kittens I've ever come across! Oops. I mean, really. They're still tiny kittens. Where does all this stuff come from? They don't even eat dry food? Go figure.

Back to bed for me. I've been feeling like I'm getting stomach flu or something. Maybe too much running around and eating too much chocolate from the TON of leftover Halloween candy we have! What to DO with all of this candy? I really should get it OUT of here before I eat an entire bag of KitKats! (see, even my Halloween candy is cat-centric!) I think this is why people work in an office. They can bring the candy to work and look like heros while they're at it. Maybe I should stop working for myself and get a full-time job?

Oh my GOD! That proves it. I haven't had a full-time job since 1986. MUST be sick. Off to bed.

Next up...a NEW Low Cost Spay & Neuter Clinic just opened in Waterbury, CT! Will be posting info and photos soon!

I miss my guys!

My part of the "Cardboard Box" kittens journey has come to an end. As it always does, seeing the kittens go to their new homes stirs up mixed feelings of joy and tender sadness. I began this journey seeing a photo (below) of what was once a litter of eight abandoned kittens, rescued by a kind woman named Jenna. By the time the kittens were old enough to travel, four had found homes. The remaining kittens came to me.

Dylan (center) and Millie (front right) with two of their siblings.

Monte (right) with sibling (left)

This litter was both the sweetest and the sickest litter I've dealt with to date. They're also the oldest, at 13-14 weeks-dangerously big to placed quickly with ease. I worried that their size would keep them from finding homes, but their beauty and perky personality won people over effortlessly.

Dylan & Dee were the first to leave. I was reluctant to say good bye and worried about Lucy-the-dog's reaction to their presence. It's been a few days and I haven't heard anything from their new family. Is that a good sign or a bad one? I'm going to call to check in, as I do with every adopter, but I'd be lying if I said this would be just like any other call. I hope the kittens are safe and all right and the dog is taking to them well. I had some mixed feelings about this, but the adopter is smart and assured me about being careful with the kitties. I have to give them a chance. I hope I don't regret it.

Dylan & Dee. Which one is which? It's always tough to tell!

Here's super-mouser, Delilah...I think.

So after loading Nancy & Gabe up with paperwork, print outs of research I did on how to introduce a dog to cats, some cans of food and some de-worming medicine, I kissed the kittens and took a deep breath. I would really be missing them a lot-especially Dylan, who loved to sleep on me and irk me by hogging all the food at every meal time. It got so bad I had to feed him in the dog crate, so the others could eat in peace and quiet. That said...the cat still got to me!

Nancy & Gabe get ready to take the kittens home (photo taken and posted with Permission)

Then there was Millie and Monte.

Millie was doing great. She never got very sick and her irritated eyes healed quickly. She went to her new home in Durham to wait until Monte recovered enough to join her. Her new family had no other pets, but did have a 4 year old girl who was definitely rough with my own cats, pulling on Spencer's fur. She's lucky she left here with both her hands. Would I stop this adoption from going forward because of her? I thought about it, but I also realized that she WOULD, I HOPE, grow out of this and my kittens were so easy going that they could handle being roughed up a bit. I said, a BIT. A LITTLE BIT. Her parents were watching her, but I know they can't watch her with the kittens 24/7. Again, I have to have some faith that things will be all right. I got my first kitten when I was 4, too. But, of course, I was gentle with my kitten and a perfect child. Ha ha ha! Oops.

Monte worried me. He just wasn't getting better. I gave him pills, drops, liquids, pastes, ointments...we visited the Vet again and although he was improved from a week ago, he needed another week of meds, at least, then a re-check. Monte had been sick for most of the two weeks he'd been with me. I felt so bad for him. I spent a lot of time just having him sleep on me.

My poor baby, Monte. He really was having a tough time with the URI.

I gave Monte a few days more to recover and he started to perk up. He decided it was comforting to "make muffins" in my hair, chew my hair and nibble my neck-which gave me the shivers! I let him do it for as long as I could stand, even though I knew it wasn't a good idea to encourage this behavior. He was finally feeling better. I'm not going to bust his chops right now.

I tried to take a photo of what Monte was doing to me. This was the best shot I got.

His new family was anxious to get him home since Millie had been crying non-stop since they'd been separated and the mom was sleeping with Millie every night in the guest room so she'd stop crying. After they promised to continue Monte's medication and with the approval of our Vet, Monte went home, along with a bag of his meds, directions and a few toys. I figured I'd have to toss everything out in order to get the URI virus out of the foster room, anyway, so Monte could keep his favorite toys. I also chose ones that were SOFT and could not be used to POKE any kittens eye out...if you get where I'm going with this...

Monte is helping me watch CNN. He likes to keep current with the events of the day.

Monte's new dad came to pick him up. Dad smelled really good and drove a cute Audi TT convertible. I figured Monte would be in good hands with a classy dad like that. I didn't cry when Monte left. I simply smiled and felt relief. My job was done. The cats were all rescued and living in a really nice home with a loving family.

I was also relieved that in the two weeks they had been here, my own cats did not seem to get sick, too. That was my biggest fear. With "Typhoid"-Monte out of the house, I could finally rest easy. All those showers and changes of clothes had been worth it. The only thing left was to scrub down the room REALLY REALLY well and I'd be ready for the next kittens to arrive.

You know that saying, "Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back?"

Everything changed at 4:10AM on Sunday morning.

Every day I wonder if Monte will finally be over this URI and every day I think he's getting better, then no, he's worse, then no, no real change. His appetite continues to be good. He goes through phases of wanting to play or rest, while the others just want to run around like maniacs.

Even after 10 days, none of the kittens are perfectly healthy. I think it will be another week before they're all in the clear. This is so frustrating! At least I'm down to just changing clothes and washing my hands and face, instead of showering every time I leave the room. I'm NOT going to say anything about MY CATS NOT GETTING SICK. I'm not saying anything about it. NO.

I must say these cats are SNUGGLE MONSTERS! If they're not stuffing their faces or flying across the room, then RUN up my chest and nuzzle my neck, purring loudly. Monte's snotty purr bubbles. He "makes muffins" with wild abandon on my neck, then gives me a little nip that sends shivers down my spine. Yikes! He seems to be happy, even if he's a snot bucket. Monday he goes back to the Vet. By then, he'll possibly be my sole foster. With any luck, he won't be alone for long.

Yes, at the bottom of this photo is ANOTHER cat-so all four are laying on me, plotting something.

I wonder what it would have been like to have ALL EIGHT of the kittens from this litter? I'm sure I'd be broke from trying to keep them fed and I'd probably have some sort of permanent heat rash from them laying on me. Perhaps I wouldn't be strong enough to get up once they jumped on my lap? Maybe they'd smother me, then eat my flesh?! Guess it's a good thing I'll never know. Glad four got adopted before the transport to CT!

Look at their sweet faces. I wonder what they're thinking? I hope they're not looking up a me to decide if I'm sleepy enough for them to attempt to smother me with their love!

Every good cat rescue must begin with a hearty breakfast! This morning we met at O'Rourke's at...cough...8:30AM (which meant leaving the house at 7:30AM) to enjoy their amazing concoctions! I had "Oscar Benedict," with steamed shrimp, black bread, poached eggs, provalone and hollandaise. Mmmmm!

After breakfast, we put the pedal to the metal to get to the drop off location of the transport. The arrival of the "Berry Babies" (Blackberry & Blueberry) was quite surprising! Instead of a van, pulling up to the Park & Ride, we were met with the sight of a huge trailer, already set up before we got there, not only with us in attendance, but about 50 other people! What were they all doing here? Adopting DOGS from the South!

And where were we on this line? AT THE END! Yes, the only people who wanted cats were at the end. Fitting, I suppose.

What I didn't figure on was how wonderful it was to be at the end of the line! As we waited, every few seconds, we'd hear a number of people gasp, clap, "ooh and ahh" as the puppies and adult dogs were brought out to meet their new owners-who had adopted these dogs never having met them before!

Some of the dogs were scared. They came out of the van looking a bit limp, with their tails tucked underneath them. Then, then new owners came up to get their new family member and within a few minutes, the dogs were wagging their tails, jumping up and down, giving kisses-all with the relief that their journey from the Kill shelters down south was over. They were saved! Today was the first day of their life with their new family begins. We got to witness this transition over and over again. I wished the line was longer!

Within a flash, it was our turn. They asked me which dog I wanted and I replied; I'm the one here for the only cats you've got! For which I was told that some times there are up to four whole cats on the transport! Wow...yeah...compared to a buttload of dogs!

A moment passed, then out comes the carrier with the tiny kittens on board. I welcomed them to Connecticut and took a peak inside their cage. They are so small, sweet, a bit dirty from stray food in their fur, but alive and well. I can't imagine how scary it was for them to be with so many barking dogs, even if they were up by the front of the transport. I faced their carrier at Jennifer and Sam so they could see the new arrivals and share the warm glow of knowing we saved another two lives!

It was a very brisk morning, around 38°F, so we rushed the kittens to Jennifer's car after a few minutes of playing "where is the paperwork" with the folks from the transport (they gave it to someone else, who figured it out before they left the parking lot, thank goodness!).

I sat in the back seat and removed Blackberry from the carrier. I could feel his ribs. He was perky alert and very curious as to what the heck was going on. I got some quick photos of him, handed him to Jennifer to make their "hellos" then put him back and did the same thing with Blueberry.

We didn't spend a lot of time together. I wanted the kittens to get to their new foster home so they could get cleaned up, fed and have some quiet time to relax. Tomorrow they're going to have some company! A little girl is doing community service for her school and she and her mom are going to visit the kittens and help start socializing them. This is a crucial age and the sooner we start, the better.

All in all, it was a nice morning (other than having a fight with Sam on the way home, because I was rude when we got to the Park & Ride and after driving around the lot for longer than I could take it, I finally blurted out "park already!" because I was so anxious to get out of the car, oops) and a joy to see so many families adopting dogs.

Maybe next time we can load them up with cats?

Maybe next time, I should drive?

"They were found in a dirt hole." All alone, clinging to life. There may have been a third kitten and certainly there was no mama to be found. Our friend in SC, who just sent us those four lovely kittens, asked for help. Who am I to say no? Okay, I do say no, but I didn't this time. Crossing my fingers that the timing would work out, I agreed to take them on.

They've been living in a cage at a Vet's office for the past two weeks. With little time for human contact, the kittens are skittish. We hope that once in our Program, they will turn around and become sweet little muffins. Their foster mom, Jennifer named them Blueberry and Blackberry. Blueberry, is a female, seen below. Her brother is mostly black and named Blackberry. I hope he comes with good internet access. Hee hee.

One of the reasons I took these kittens in was because of Blackberry. Black cats do not find homes in the south. Nor do the black dogs. I'm told it's a superstition thing, but whatever it is, I know Blackberry wouldn't stand a chance at finding a home where he is now. We'll find him a good family as soon as he's ready. Bluebery, too.

The transport will be here on Saturday morning. Jennifer and I are going to pick them up and maybe force ourselves to grab some breakfast beforehand at the penultimate breakfast place in the state: O'Rourke's

Hey, if we have to go for a long drive to pick up the kittens, why not stuff our faces, first? A girl's gotta keep her black stretchy pants filled!

The transport was delayed and got in at 1am! Needless to say, we were all a bit bleary from the long day. Chrissy pulled her transport van into the lot, we jumped out of the car with carriers in hand. Chrissy thought she only needed one carrier. Good, I thought. They are still small. I was worried about them being HUGE, after all this rescue started well over a month ago. Sure enough, there were two crates left, all the others were empty. The kittens were meowing hysterically, ready to end their confinement and get some FOOD on board. Chrissy grabbed one out of the carrier while the door to the transport was open. I imagined the other one jumping down and running off into the night, but Chrissy must have an iron grip. She got that kitten into the carrier and went to reach for the next. Then, I realized...SHIT these kittens are HUGE!

They didn't exactly all fit into one carrier, but we only had a five minute drive back to our house, so while they squirmed and cried, Sam put the pedal to the metal.

I had warmed food ready, so I opened the cat carrier, as the kittens exploded out of the carrier. Each was running madly, trying to figure out what to do. I put the food down and within seconds they were inhaling it. I mean, these guys were HUNGRY! One of them started to growl. I tried not to be concerned since they were in a high stress situation and the food was really good, so maybe one would get a bit pissy about having enough.

Dinner. Growling and the fastest chewing I've ever seen.

They ate two 5.5 oz cans of food between the four of them. Clearly, they wanted more, so I got them another two cans to eat. Finally, they started to calm down, finish eating and make use of having access to a clean litter pan. Right away they were ready to play! As though nothing happened. They were relaxed, happy, a few let me pet them. One even purred, then sneezed...again, and again. Two have runny eyes. They were transported with albon. Hmmm...guess that means their treatment for coccidia needs to be continued? Too late to figure all this out.

Dinner, part two

I went to bed after 2AM. I hoped they wouldn't have a poop and pee festival all over the guest bed during the night. I slept hard and didn't get up until 10AM. Before I did anything else, I got the kittens fed and checked in on them. They didn't even mess up the litter pan and the room was in great shape. Whew!

I looked at the kittens. They have crazy markings. Two look like Maine Coon mixes, the other are bizarre tabbies. They must be around 11-12 weeks old, which is about 3 weeks older than I would have liked. My goal is to get them on Petfinder ASAP, so we can start finding them homes.

Here's the gang. We have...

Delilah, or "Dee"

Dylan, yes, tough to tell apart from Delilah!

Millicent McMuffin "Milli"

Monte McMuffin

NO, I don't know what the deal is with the "McMuffin" last name. It just felt right. Maybe it's their white paws?

So I've got new fosters and a new story to tell. Will I be able to find homes for such BIG kittens? I'd better! There are about 12 more we need to help soon! At least this part of the journey is over. These kittens were saved from being euthanized by a dog-rescue pro, Jenna, Dr. Anderson and a generous foster mom, Trish. They made sacrifices of time and money to get these kittens here. Now I'll do my part until they're ready to go on to their forever homes!

But man, they are HUGE!

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