We are going to close out the fabulous former foster friday February with my favorite kitties. Not that I don't love them all, but I think you all know what a special place in my heart these two have. Anne adopted these two and has been kind enough to allow me to continue glimpses into their lives. To be honest, I still kinda regret not keeping them, but I still know that would not have been a good thing (Jack is currently sitting on my lap attempting to lick my nose proving my point). Now this by no means is the last former foster post until next february.. so if anyone has one of my kittens, feel free to let me know how they are doing, and I will be happy to share them with the world.
Now.. without further adieu....
In October 2013, a friend shared a facebook post of Connie’s - pleading for someone to adopt
two adorable devoted sweet twin kittens. I fell in love with these faces and that was that.
Well, okay, it was a bit more complicated than that.
My name is Anne and I live with my mom, Janet. We have had one cat at a time most of my life
but we lost our last one about six years ago after a second bout with cancer. We were
emotionally wiped out and needed a break … then life happened. We had both occasionally
considered getting another cat. We had even tossed around the notion of two but the
conversations never developed into commitment and we were not actually looking for new furry
family. Then I saw Connie’s post. And her next post. And the next one. And, finally, the threat
that they would be taken back to the shelter and possibly split. She kept describing these two as
really special and cuddly and soft and just about everything I had on my bullet list for my
personal perfect cats. I couldn’t take it and after much talking, many tears, a lot of panic about
the state of the house, evaluating finances and my own ability to commit to beings that would
very likely have to be accommodated through big life changes over the next decades … we said
YES!!
Now about a year and a half old, they have definitely developed
their personalities. Isaac Arnold is a gentle soul. He is very
cautious about exploring and hangs back to let Smedley go first.
He loves “Being With” us - especially with “his mommy”, Janet.
He curls up on the side of her desk and lays his head on her
hand. (He’s our chin skritches boy. And he is So Soft - almost too
soft to feel.) Or, he will come find a spot near us while we are in
another room. He generally likes harder surfaces, or at least ones
with a lot of support. He cracks us up and we call him the
flounder … he lies with his back legs splayed out and gets very
flat.
He also is the one that likes to curl up tightly in a protected spot
… preferably as small as he can squash himself into! He has
found some interesting spots including our aloe plant. But, he
always looks very comfy. He takes a while to be interested in
playing (as I said, he is cautious) but once he does he is an amazing jumper and will tenaciously
protect his toys. He is decidedly a stuffed-mouse-on-a-stick kinda guy. But any toy or red light
dot is fair game!
Smedey is our “take no prisoners, barge right in and figure out where you are later” boy. He is
into everything and vocal about it. He’s also very very sweet and incredibly affectionate. I am
“Smedley’s mommy”. He and I have an almost daily routine of a “Full Smedley” involving him
perching on my chest with lots of face buffing, licking, nipping, kneading, writhing, purring,
meowing, and just plain cuddling. We both throw ourselves into it and I can’t get enough. Every
once in a while Smed will let mom have this experience and every once in a while I can have
snuggles with Isaac Arnold but for the most part we are paired up. Last summer I had heart
surgery and the big sweetie found ever adaptive ways to manage to cuddle around my incision,
contorting himself around a pillow and on my shoulder and my head and everything he could
concoct to snuggle. Isaac was the model of decorum on my lap.
Smedley is a sprawler and a big belly rub boy. He usually sticks a leg or two over the edge of
his lounging spot and he will turn and bend and grab your hands with his front paws to ensure
the required belly rub coverage (full face-to-belly nuzzling also encouraged!) Smed loves
feathers. Give him feathers on a string or a stick and he goes nuts. They both still play with the
feather toys Connie gifted to them but Smed tends to get wacko about them!
Smedley is an intrepid adventurer. He was the first to jump up on counters, he is always on the
front lines of poking through newly opened doors. He noses right in to check out food. He was
the one to figure out how to open our kitchen cabinetry and more than once I have discovered
that he has peeled off the (now needed) duct tape and has his fuzzy butt sticking up out of our
garbage can!
The two of them are an amazing duo. They are so spectacularly twins and Shenanigators
(instigators of shenanigans). They still play together, run around together, lick each other, tussle, mirror each other at the window, manage to open our kitchen cabinets and drawers and
are generally just a delight to share our lives with. It would have been nice, though, if they
would have actually caught the mouse in the bread drawer instead of just waiting for it to come
back!
They are both doing well health wise. When they came home, they had both had a
long struggle
with digestive problems and diarrhea and were having a tough time shifting to canned food.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a good local place to get commercially prepared raw food.
Adoption day was the day after Thanksgiving. The first couple of months we were scrambling to
get the house ready for them to expand into, to play holiday hosts and taking part in our
church’s holiday events. At that point we were basically feeding them from the meat counter.
(They continue their love of chicken hearts!) With time their systems got much stronger. Now we
are able to give them pretty much any food and they will happily chow down. Of course, if they
had their way that would extend to first dibs on our meals too! They both tend to try to eat
anything. Isaac Arnold has a penchant for anything bread-like or vanilla … he is especially
tenacious about trying to get at pizzelles! Smedley is persistent about sneaking yogurt.
Frustratingly, this doesn’t end with actual food. They have both scared us to the core and
caused lifestyle changes with things they eaten. Isaac can’t be trusted around rubber bands
after an Incident without lasting consequences. But at about seven months old Smedley ate …
something. We don’t know what it was for sure. One morning he wasn’t able to walk up the
stairs. Three trips to vet hospitals, lots of fluids, some meds and lots of tests later he was better.
An ultrasound showed something solid in his colon that was clearly passed but it was never
found in the stools or identified. Mom and I are SO grateful that he pulled through that
unscathed.
So, they are adored. They are wonderful. They are better than fine. And, they are exactly what
we needed. We fell in love and that was that. I’m pretty sure they did too.
