Kreb has been adopted

Well, that took a bit longer than I thought it would, but not nearly long enough in some respects. You know how it is, you get a kitty in your arms and they purr and you fall in love.. Neither my husband or I wanted to let him go, but we both knew that this was most likely not the right household for Kreb, so we both agreed, most reluctantly, to go ahead with adopting him out. 

The rescue that found a home for Suri found him a home as well. It is always a risk when you take in a cat with unwanted urination behaviors because you never know if someone is willing to give a kitty a second chance. I knew if no one else would, we would find a way to make it work here, but we were blessed to find a lovely young woman who appears to be the absolute perfect fit for him. And considering the initial reports of his sleeping under the covers with her the very first night, I would say Kreb totally approves.

It is such a fine line when you let a kitty go, wanting updates, information, knowing how he is doing, getting reassurances that all is going well vs respecting the new owner's privacy and her relationship with her kitty. I have opened the door (maybe a bit too wide, because I am just a wee bit obsessed with Kreb) and if I get updates I will be thrilled. 

I am so glad I got to know Kreb as an adult. He is such a magnificent kitty, full of spunk and charm and that boy next door qualities that are so hard to resist.. 

Good luck Kreb, best wishes, and you will always have a place in my heart.. 

Remember Kreb?

Back in October of 2018 I fostered Onyx and she gave birth to four kittens. Among them was Kreb. Kreb was adopted into a home with his sister Romy and pretty quickly it seemed like it was going to be a problem. From the history I was able to get, he pretty quickly developed a habit of not using the litter box all the time.

I give the family a lot of credit for working with them, but over time they came to the conclusion that their home wasn't the best home for him and reached out to me for help. After some discussion, I offered to take him back here with me and work on finding him a new home. The rescue who took in Suri agreed to take him if we could figure out what his issue was, which was a load off my shoulders because I simply do not have it in me to handle the adoption process.

I brought him home and set him up in the bathroom of the kitten room. He was a little uncomfortable, choosing to spend most of his time in the carrier, but he was happy to see me and would purr and wanted to be a lap kitty but wasn't sure if I was okay with that so he would lay down next to me with his paws on my leg.. See, Kreb is a VERY big kitty, weighing over 20 lbs. 

I do not know what his issues were with his last house. I have some speculations but that doesn't make them true. All I do know is that he is always on alert when the kittens would make noise. He was also reluctant to eat when I wasn't around. It made for a rough couple of days for both of us, but he is eating pretty well now and since he has used the litter box for his duty, he has graduated into a bigger room and so far has been very good in there. I have given him a few soft surfaces (towels etc) to give him a chance to show me that he has bigger issues than the stress of his old home (whatever that was) and so far *knockwood* 

So he needs a home too. While he might adjust to something different, I think the easiest transition for him would be a nice quiet home with adults only (or introverted older kids) and being the only pet.

I am probably going to give him another week or two here to be sure that nothing pops up, but we don't have a single complaint about him - well except that he is a bit of a dry food addict.. 😸

VIsiting friends #formerfosters

I knew for a couple of weeks that I was going to go to the shelter from yesterday's post, so when I was invited to visit Casey and Cabana I couldn't resist piggybacking a trip down to see them.

Lauren was incredibly generous to invite me down and I was glad to know. She had been sharing photos of the duo on Facebook so I knew they were adjusting well, but seeing it in person.. of cuddling them one more time.. well, I couldn't resist. As you can see I got the trademarked cuddle from both of them.. (and they didn't even know I had treats at that point.. yes, I am not above bribing my former fosters for attention)

Sadly, my camera was dead so I only had my cell, and they were so excited and active that I got relatively few photos.. (and most of them were quite fuzzy) but it was wonderful to spend some time with them, to feed them some treats, and get to know their mom a little better. I knew Lauren was a lovely person by how generously she has been sharing them with me, but spending time with her was a delight... and seeing her goats was such fun!

But then there was this..

Yup, they ended up right where they were supposed to be..

Then I received a message from Jasmine's mom (former foster Slate).  She had some food her kitties weren't eating and she offered it to me. I figured I could swing over to see them and it all worked out as well..

Jasmine showed off for me a bit, showed me her bed, told me I was not going to take her back, and was downright adorable.. It was lovely to see her and spend a little time with her family, but it was getting late (there is so little sunlight this time of year in New England and driving at night is not a lot of fun)

I also visited another set of fosters a while ago..

My friend Kathleen, who adopted two of my fosters years ago and who has connected me up a number of people who have ended up adopting from me, invited me out for a visit. I had to be in the area for work, so I made a quick jaunt over to see them.. yes, on an island off the coast of Maine, yes, it was absolutely amazingly stunning.. Meghan who also adopted some of my former fosters came along. It was a wonderful time among friends.  While Kathleen's kitties were mostly a no show (except for Rocky who decided to pose for me so beautifully) I did get to go over and see this year's most popular foster kitty and his sister

Now I swear there is no food in my purse and trying to get in it was completely her idea.. :) (and yes, I was frisked before leaving)

--------

I do want to remind you that I am sending out Christmas postcards again this year. If you would like one you can submit your address here. I am also selling a calendar with photos of my fosters from this year. You can pick it up here

An update on Hedy

I know many of you have been wondering what is going on with Hedy. I talked on FB how she was up for adoption for a while after she left us. She went back early to be neutered to see if removing the hormones from her system would help with her weight loss and diarrhea, and it did.

The woman who runs the rescue was very much wanting to keep her but she has enough on her plate right now so one more kitty wasn't really in the cards. It turns out one of my loyal readers reached out to the rescue and ended up making Hedy part of her household, and I could not be more thrilled.

From Marianne:

We were adopted by Hedy on August 27, 2019! I know Hedy has a lot of fans out there so I’m writing to let you know what she’s been up to. She settled in easily, and loves exploring the house in great detail; eating and drinking quite a lot for such a small cat; loves her cat toys, especially her flirt pole, and loves to sit on the windowsill of an open window. I know she was a great Mom from following “Tales from The Foster Kittens,” and that she is a great face buffer. I was messaging Connie earlier today that Hedy rarely seems to stop moving, and doesn’t like to sit still for long. I can get a quick face buff if I lean down where she is walking or playing, but sitting still on a lap is just not her thing yet. When she wants to sleep, she favors a spot behind the sofa that no one can reach. She is exceptionally alert to every new sound in the house. She’s just as talkative as you might have seen from Connie’s videos! She will talk to you nonstop if you keep talking back to her!

We are keeping her separate from our beloved 6-year-ikd rescue dog, Theia, who has been in environments with cats before (a dog daycare, where the resident cats walked around freely) and is very enthusiastic about playing with her dog friends, but needs to learn to be calmer around the cat. Hedy is unafraid of the dog… she would walk right up to Theia, and Theia is anxious to play too, but we are working with Theia to be calmer around Hedy. We are working on having Theia be able to see Hedy from a distance (we’re down to only 4 feet!) while staying calm and flat on the floor in a “down”, “relax” (on one hip) position. So we’re almost there, but I will still keep Hedy separate from Theia if we aren’t around to supervise, at least until I am sure that Hedy has suitable “escape hatches” (up or under) in every room. Quite reasonably, Hedy’s extra alertness may be due to Theia’s occasional moaning to be allowed in to play with us. We are a family that has always, always had cats (multiple cats, actually) and Theia is our first dog. Once we had Theia, were not sure we could even have a cat, but Hedy’s exposure to Kristin’s two dogs convinced us this could work. Hedy is the perfect cat, and we are so thrilled she has joined our family!

She loves to sit on this toy; takes most of her after dinner baths sitting right here! It looks like she's locked up in a castle with a moat....

Thank you, Marianne. Know that a lot of people love your girl and are so glad she landed the good life.

Spottacus and Ren come to visit

I bet you recognize this face.. Yup, Spottacus and Ren stopped by after being adopted by my friend Lori.  Lori lives in Maine and traveled two and a half hours to adopt them so I invited them over for a visit and a quick lunch. While we were visiting we decided to let the boys run around and use the litter box if necessary.  I thought they might like a snack as well

Which they very much did. Spottacus visited his mom, and Ren visited his

And they ran and they played.. it was good for them (and I got to get in a few more kitten huffs)

An interesting thing happened.. I asked Lori if she was going to keep their names and she said she was probably going to keep Ren's name because she was a fan of Footloose. I laughed because that is exactly where the name came from.  This is the second time I have unknowingly named kittens after their future owner's favorite characters.. (well that I know of) the first one was Buffy, Zander, and Oz who ended up being adopted by someone I went to high school with and who was a huge fan of the show. Spottacus is going to be Willis after Ren's friend in the movie (and because she thinks Willard is a weird name for a cat) While I'm sad he isn't keeping the name, I do love the new one.

I also didn't realize how much they look alike to people who do not know them. I can tell them apart easily, but when we were pointing out differences so she could know, most of the markings were very similar. I'm sure she can tell them apart pretty easily now too.

A special former foster update - Happy Birthday to Miles and Treads

For those of you newer to the blog, Miles and Treads were part of a foster group I had way back in 2003. Treads (the tabby) was originally Peanut, the runt of the litter that was born at 1.7 oz. I was so scared that I ran the whole family into the shelter and I was told to just let nature take its course.

I was not having any of that and I interfered often and with reckless abandon. I isolated him and his mother so he could have one on one time without being knocked off by his siblings who were twice his size. I held her down and let him nurse when she wanted to get to the other kittens. I supplement fed him whenever I could.

I could not, would not, stop fighting for him. When the time came to return them for adoption my heart broke. Ann adopted him and his brother "Gonzo" now Miles, and has given me random updates over the years. Yesterday morning that photo came in and I nearly broke down. It was so nice to see him again. I am so happy that he is doing well and has reached such a milestone in his life.

Checking in with Maxwell and Ducky

One thing that is really nice about social media is that I get to stalk a few of my former fosters. A few weeks ago I put a call out to people who have adopted from me asking for updates on my fosters to blog about. February is notoriously slow on this blog and I usually do a Former Foster February, but this year I was just so overwhelmed with moving and making sure my cats were not overly stressed (they were highly stressed) that I just couldn't get into blogging.

But the most infamous kitten pusher who has adopted some of my foster kittens outside of me, Kathleen, sent me an update on her two kitties Maxwell and Ducky.

You may remember them as Maxwell and Faraday. Or you might have seen them on the Hallmark video

Here is what Kathleen has to say:

We’ve had these 2 glamour pusses almost 4 years. They joined our 2 other cats and our Boxer Millie. Ducky, formerly Faraday, is a big, silky love bug, who doesn’t understand the concept of personal space. He monitors the comings and goings of the rest of the gang, feeling it necessary to give everybody a thorough sniffing when they come in. He’s also in love with the dog and pretty much throws himself at her, doing a shoulder roll under her nose so they can spoon.

Maxwell (the Bold) is more outdoorsy, preferring to spend most of his time outside during the milder months. It takes him a while to settle in once winter comes, but right now he’s quite content to demand play time whenever the Catman is around. It keeps his skills honed for when he takes up his wildlife management job come Spring. Like a well-oiled machine, Max takes down the catnip toy on a string. Once he kills it, he sits down and readies himself to do it all over again. And again...

Thank you, yet again, Kathleen!

Sending good thoughts to Lion and his family

Five years ago we fostered little Lion. He showed up here with his siblings and covered in burrs. He went on to be adopted by a couple the CatMan and I have become friends with over the years.

Over the holiday Lion found himself some ribbon and gobbled it down rather quickly when no one was paying attention. Fortunately, it came out okay, but while at the vet being checked over he caught a bit of a cold and then passed it on to his siblings and none of them are eating at this point.

I hope by the time this is published everyone is eating again and his parents can get a break from the stress of it all.

Former Foster Friday: Melia, Lily, Rose, and Max

I was on Facebook earlier this week when my page received a message of this kitty photo.

It is a beautiful kitty but I didn't recognize who sent it to me so I was a little confused as to why it was sent to me until Chrissy sent me another message letting me know that this was Elie that I fostered last year. The little kitten who was missing a foot.

Chrissy let me know that Elie was now Melia and was doing very well. She loves her older sister "Lexi" and even helped teach her how to play since Lexi was feral and never really understood play. This made so happy as when this group of fosters showed up they were so fearful they were completely unwilling to play too. Since I am in contact with Melia's sisters Rose and Lily (formerly Corrie) and their brother Max was adopted by a co-worker of my husband, I thought I would share photos of them too.

This is what they looked like then:

Now: Melia

I asked Chrissy about Melia's foot, and she said she is doing really well, only occasionally acting like it bothers her a bit and then recovering quickly. I was so happy to get the update, she totally made my day.

Then I bugged Julie about Lily (formerly Corrie) and Rose.

Lily is about three pounds heavier than her sister Rose. If you remember, Lily was the one who had a reaction to the sedation when they were neutered. She recovered quite a bit while she was still here but was still a bit unsteady on her feet when she went home with Julie and her husband. Over the next few weeks, she continued to improve to the point that she no longer has any symptoms. I was very fortunate that Julie allowed me to become friends with her on Facebook and so I get to see photos of them quite regularly. I was so worried about the both of them prior to the incident with their spay because they were quite reluctant to let go of their fearful nature, but they have blossomed into beautiful kitties.

I occasionally get a little bit of news on Max as my husband and Joe used to chat about him, but I haven't heard much in a while. Joe loves Max a lot and he is quite happy.

Former Foster Friday - guess who came for dinner

I reached out to Nancy and Trixie's mom to see if I could stop by and take some photos of her girls (formerly known as Wryn and Sprite)

They are just over a year old and are coming up on their "Gotcha Day" and I was hoping to invite myself over to get some photos. When I asked about stopping by I was met with a question "Do you know a good cat sitter?"

Do I know a good cat sitter? 😃

I offered to take care of the girls, but the more I thought about it the more I realized they might have more attention if they boarded at Casa de Gato. Since I have a spare room at the moment, it worked out nicely.

They are here until next Sunday morning.

Initially, everything went far better than I was expecting. They were both out and about and investigating and being social. Nancy became a little overwhelmed with the new scents and everything going on so she started growling at things. It was interesting because she was still rubbing on me while growling - it reminded me of Lemon - their mom who used to growl at the weirdest things.

It is easy to engage Nancy in play, which is a very good sign, but she seems disturbed by her sister, and I wonder if that might not be a scent thing, but her sister is giving her a wide berth. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being everything is awesome and I'm giving belly rubs and 1 is I'm worried about bloodshed, I think we are at a 7. I gave her a little Rescue Remedy and I'm fairly certain things will be calmer in the morning. If I am wrong and this goes downhill, I can always bring them back to their home and stop by twice a day to check on them.

The webcams are on if you want to check on them.