Adoption Story for X and Y (formerly known as Peanut Butter and Jelly)

 I STILL do not have names for these two, they are making it exceptionally hard. 

But yes, these are the kittens formerly known as Peanut Butter and Jelly. Yes, they do not look nearly as fluffy as they used to, a combination of growing and shedding their kitten fur has turned them into gangly teenagers.. well preteens anyway.. they are still stupidly adorable and kittenlike... and the boy is still absolutely ridiculous. 

I had quite a few people reach out to me about adopting these two and I was all set to let them go to one woman but at the last minute, she realized this wasn't the right time for her. I was falling hard for him, because he had so many qualities that Jack and Muffin had that I loved so much and missed terribly and she was showing her true spirit was just as awesome as his and I just knew that given time she would bring great joy to my life.

It was hard though. I had made the decision years ago that I was done adopting. I wanted to be able to let fosters run through the house and be able to travel without having to worry about cats who had bonded to me stressing out that we are gone so badly that they end up in the emergency clinic again. I also toyed with the idea of running a Nebelung rescue which doesn't seem as realistic with my owning cats.(hey, I don't have to make sense.. it made sense to me) 

It was also quite hard with everyone telling me to keep them. I love all of my fosters and in that respect, I want to keep them all, but that is simply not reasonable. No, these two weren't all that different from other kittens I have had in the past that I have wanted to keep. Okay, fine, yes, he is beyond ridiculous, but still. 

So, when I realized that I would have to face up to finding someone else to take them (there were still options) I gave it a shot to see what my cats would think of kittens since it has been over a decade since they had to put up with one. Twee was beyond clueless. I opened the door to the basement where the kitten room was to let them out to visit and Twee saw the open door and tried to run down and ran right past the kittens like they weren't even there (my cats aren't allowed in the basement at all). Even when they were up and exploring she was acted like they weren't real. Skippy wasn't thrilled with the idea, but he is so resigned to whatever is left over anyway that he just left and went to take a nap. He had a few days of not feeling all that well during this time as well (he is feeling better now) so they didn't really have to deal with him at all. Fleurp was a different matter. 

I also realized that I never blogged about losing Eli. He passed away a few months ago and I will get to that this week. 

to say Fleurp was not amused was putting it mildly. She would hiss so venomously that it smelled like actual venom. She would attack them if she saw them venture out into HER kitchen (the dining room is right next to the stairs to the basement so the kittens started going right in there and were quite scared to venture out). I was actually afraid for their physical health. We did very short visits and they were always supervised.  After a couple of weeks, I was faced with that choice and I decided that Fleurp had mellowed enough that it was going to work out eventually and we went down and adopted them. 

Things are far from perfect. The kittens are very rambunctious and the old guard really wishes they would not get in their face so much, but we are all sleeping in the same bed for several hours each night while we watch an episode or two of x-files (and no, we are not naming them Mulder and Scully and yes, we did discuss it) 

I really hate not having names. We talked about Wonderfu, and Mewtiful, and FoofTail and Puff and Piffle. We have tried a few popular names. I really wanted to name her Turtle and then thought of the Tortise and the Hare which I thought would be awesome for them since she was so slow opening up but I couldn't find a good rabbit name for him (I did call him Rabbit for a day or two) and by that time she stopped being Turtle because she has come out of her shell. She is still fearful during the day, but once the sun sets she is just a regular kitten that is just a little bit on edge with weird noises. I don't want human names.. but I'm not opposed to them if something seems to fit.. we'll see. I hope soon, because this is just getting ridiculous.. 

Butters has a new Valentine

Last weekend Butters went back to the shelter to be neutered.  With some pretty heavy networking on my end, I was able to connect to a woman who took one look at Butters and was smitten.

I'm not exactly sure when Butters is going to her new home, but she has one and I am sure it is going to be great.

Best wishes little girl. While I'm personally sad you didn't have kittens with me, I'm glad that I got to know you and you are going to have a wonderful life.  Thank you Kelly for adopting her!

Aloe and Aaron's Adoption Account

Before we get to the adoption account, I wanted to share with you a few photos before they left. I was watching them run around before they went to be neutered and realized that they were reminding me of ring-tailed lemurs

Sorry guys, I know you look a little perturbed that I posted your rear end on the internet, but you know you think it is your best side.

So I took a couple hours off from work to run the kittens up to the shelter for their adoption. I decided to pack a few of their favorite toys and send them along so their transition would be easier. I met their mom Meghan and let her meet her new kitties and she was smitten. The shelter has paperwork and some counseling to do with each person who adopts so I grabbed my new kittens and headed back home then back to work. By the time I got back to work there were photos.

Meghan told me that she believes Aloe's name was supposed to be Abe. Have to say, that makes a LOT more sense than Aloe, which was such a weird name for a kitten. Shortly after the adoption, Meghan announced their new names.

These are some pretty great kittens, and they're huge fans of the under-bed closet.

In Cambodian, the phrase (and forgive the rough anglification) "bontek bontuik" means "a little bit." May I introduce Bontek (with more white - Aloe) and Bontuik (gray tiger - Aaron). A little bit of kitty and a great big pile of awesome.

I've already spent my first 30 minutes wishing I could get up to rescue dinner from burning but feeling like only a monster would disrupt the purring, nose-licking, belly-showing kitten furnace lying on my chest. It's love, y'all.

Love indeed. I'm so glad it is working out. Although I did recommend she buy a faster camera 😸 because Bontek is only still when he is sleeping (and then sometimes not even then)

PetSmart Adoption Weekend

I found out that the shelter I volunteer for was having an 'adoption weekend' via Facebook.

PetSmart in Biddeford is hosting AWS for a very special adoption event this weekend. We’ll have dogs, cats, puppies and kittens ready to go home with you! 

July 23rd: 9 am - 3 pm
July 24th: 10 am - 3 pm

All adoptions are on first come, first served basis so plan to arrive early at PetSmart. Kittens and puppies are especially popular and will go home very quickly. We will hand out numbers to those waiting in line at PetSmart starting at 5am on Saturday and 6am on Sunday.

Visit our adoption pages to see which animals will be available on which days: http://animalwelfaresociety.org/adopt/

Even if you’re not ready to adopt a new pet, stop by for some fun. There will be food trucks, games and activities for kids throughout the event. We hope you can make it and help us celebrate a fun weekend of pets going home!

For more information, please contact Stephanie Delage at 207-985-3244 ext. 114.

Please note:

-All dogs and cats are spayed or neutered and up to date on all age appropriate vaccines.

-Adoptions run on a first come, first served basis.

-PetSmart Charities donates $35.00 to AWS for each adoption at the store throughout the weekend.

Food trucks? sign me up.  I wasn't sure if I would have enough time or energy to commit to volunteering, but I thought I could stop by and take some photos.. Everything is blog fodder ;)

My husband and I happened to be in the area around 2:00 PM on Saturday and I saw nothing. No food trucks, no big event, I was confused if I had my times right.  We purchased a few things when out of the corner of my eye I saw that they were in the front training area out of sight (and there were no signs pointing us in that direction) I sent my husband out to the truck while I ran over to take a peek at what was going on.  There was a bank of cages on one side of the room, and the kittens were free running on the floor amongst the people, and there appeared to be a lot of people.  I stepped into the room to get a feeling of what was going on and saw only one volunteer there. I patted a kitten and ended up leaving fairly quickly since I knew my husband was waiting for me.

The next morning I found myself heading back over to PetSmart and showed up at 10 AM. There were one and a half dogs left for adoption.  I say half because one was in the arms of someone who was about to say yes (she did) and then no more than ten minutes later someone else showed up and took the black lab that was left.  Even with adoption fees that were just shy of $400 they all went home.  Good for them, but part of me was sad that the cats aren't able to command that kind of demand. They are still considered 'free' animals. That is changing and kittens at least have $199 adoption fees. Considering just a decade ago we had such an overpopulation of cats that we were having to kill over half of them that came into the shelter, I'd say change is happening.. and that is an awesome thing.

Without any dogs to adopt out they took down the tents and moved things inside. There still weren't any food trucks, and no real signage to point out where we were or that there were kittens up for adoption. They made announcements on the speaker from time to time. At one point I went over to the adoption area and saw people looking at the cats so I mentioned that there were kittens in the front of the store and they did not know. I mentioned to the shelter that they should put a sign on the cat area to direct people to the kittens which they did. I also trimmed a few claws of kittens who had sharp pointies and weren't afraid to use them.

While I was there, several kittens were adopted. According to the shelter, 57 animals went home this weekend.  That makes me very happy.

Wryn and Sprite - adoption story

So yesterday I went to the shelter after work to see Wryn and Sprite at the shelter. I was jonesing for a little kitten love and I hoped they were still there.

I lucked out, they were still there.  When I went to see them, the staff at the adoption counter told me they all thought they were very cute, and that they had been out cuddling them all morning. I love to hear such things because I know the more these girls are handled the better it will be for them.  I went to the cage, and they were both hanging out at the bottom (which is covered with a cage cover to give them some privacy). Sprite came right to me, but I had to pull Wryn out. Both were very friendly though and enjoyed the attention and didn't seem fearful at all. It made my heart sing to see it.

I spent some time with them, and when they realized they could run in opposite directions and drive me crazy, I put Sprite back and took Wryn to the adoption counter so I could stand up and still be with her.

As I stood there a woman and her daughter came into the shelter. They came to see a pair of cats that were noted that would be good to be adopted together. Unfortunately by the time they came one of the cats had been adopted. She was looking for a pair of kitties because she previously had a pair of sisters that lived until they were 17, but they had passed a year and a half ago.  So yes, I put on the hard sell.  Apparently they had been in yesterday and saw them, and they were very interested, but the woman was moving into a new place, and for the next week or so things were going to be chaotic, and she was going out of town for Easter.

So I did what any sane kitten woman would do  - especially when she doesn't have foster kittens - I offered to kitten-sit.

She was not in a position to adopt them right then and there because the water company was coming to turn on the water, and so I confirmed my offer and gave her contact info if she wanted to take me up on it. I warned them that I didn't think the girls would last very long. And then I went home.

I wasn't home very long before I received a message from the shelter asking if it was okay to give out my contact information to the woman from before. I said it absolutely was okay, and a moment later I received a phone call asking me if the offer to kitten-sit was still on the table. I said of course it was, and I jumped up and ran to the shelter.

This time, she was there with her other daughter.

They were both so giddy at the idea of adopting kittens that it was infectious. They kept thanking me, but seeing them so happy over these two girls... well seriously, it felt like they were doing me the favor.

I actually waited around until her other daughter (the one from earlier) showed back up to snuggle the kittens some more. We swapped contact information and Facebook contacts and I told her about the webcams so they can watch them. There was talk of coming to visit, to which I said they were welcome to. And once all the paperwork was complete and all the exchange of info was done, they were afraid they were keeping me. It was so sweet, but I seriously could have stood there and watched them coo over the kittens for hours.

I mean seriously.. they were literally bending over to accommodate these kittens.  I so hope they don't mind my sharing this particular photo, but this moment totally made my day... well that and the little dance of joy they did when they walked out of the shelter.

So we packed them up and I brought them home. It took them about five minutes to relax in the room when they realized they were back and nothing had changed, they started running around and had a little snack.  Then it became apparent they were tired. Sprite climbed up on the back of the couch and started snoozing. Wryn climbed up in my lap and let me pat her. She then proceeded to lay down, and then..

This was a first.They both fell asleep on me. Once again my heart sang.

It was such a good day.

I'm not sure exactly when they will go to their new home, but it will be sometime after Easter. I know I'm in no hurry, but I bet they are.

Best Wishes Gandalf

On December 14th I introduced you to this little bundle of fluff..

He was thin and sickly, and he had a mustache and extra toes, and he was a welcome addition to Casa de Gato.

I named him Gandalf because my husband picked the name. It worked for me, and it apparently is going to work for his new family as well.

They came to meet him the day after Christmas. Seemed a complete and utter waste of time if you would have asked me, but seriously who doesn't want to play with kittens at Christmas time, and I was happy to do it. Yes, they fell in love.

We had to wait for Gandalf to become healthy enough to be neutered, so he stayed here longer than we generally like to keep them. At a certain point in life, kittens get so bored with that room and spend most of their time trying to figure out how to get out of it. Gandalf was generally a good boy and didn't try to get out, but then again we already knew he was a little odd since he never really liked Happy Bear.

We finally received the all clear and he was neutered, just in time for Jonah to come barreling down on the east coast. Fortunately, I was completely out of the brunt of it - and how weird was it being in Maine and not getting any snow while people in Virginia were slammed. However, Gandalf's new family lives in Boston and as such did have to worry about the snow. We weren't sure until almost the last minute if they were going to make the trek up. We knew they could get her safely enough, but would they make it home was the question.  That morning the news seemed to indicate that they would, so I received a text that they were on their way.

Gandalf attempted to pack his bags with all of his favorite things, but he wasn't having much success, so I helped. I packed some of the foods he had been eating since he was going on and off foods, along with a few of his favorite things.

I must inspect and make sure you did a good job, 

and maybe do a little quality control.

Hey, let's go already!

and of course, we were late, when I arrived at the shelter they were already there waiting. They were so thrilled to see Gandalf again.. 

While I was sad to let him go.. more because I wouldn't have a kitten at Casa de Gato. I loved Gandalf, but he was taken for most of the time he was with me so it was easier to guard my heart. The family made it back home in time, so it all worked out perfectly.

Now comes the hard part of the year, the time year when there just aren't kittens. Cats don't generally get amorous when it is freezing outside. Since the shelter is importing kittens from down south maybe we'll get some, but we will probably have to wait until March or April. February generally has held Former Foster Friday posts, and I bet I can convince a few of the adopters that I know of to share a few photos with me.

Adoption day part two

Even before the kittens were ready for adoption, I actually had several people contact me about adopting them.

One person in particular was ready to adopt them all at one point or another. Dee had fallen head over heals in love with Winnow and Belladora and had talked about making the hours long trek up to Maine to adopt them.  We chatted about their personalities, her own kitties and kittens in general. Dee has two mancats and after much soul searching Dee realized she couldn't bring the kittens home at this time.  When Sharon contacted me about adopting Winnow and Belladora I contacted Dee and asked if she was sure that she wasn't going to be able to give them a home. She was sad that it wasn't going to work out, but was happy that they were going together, and it was good.

And then she asked me about Flynn and Ethan Errol.  Her heart obviously wanted new kitties. I told her more about them, we chatted more about kittens and her cats, and I could tell she wanted kittens but all of the same reasons she couldn't take Winn and Bella were still there.  When Lori contacted me about Flynn I once again asked Dee what she wanted, and reason won out.

I felt so bad because I knew she wanted kittens.. but I also fully know the feeling of wanting to take in a cat when your circumstances simply won't allow.

And then there was the message "So how old is Lovey, I'm asking for a friend"

Adopting an older cat would work better with her two boys, and one thing Dee really wanted in a kitty was one that overly affectionate.

Only problem was that Lovey appeared to really hate other cats. Was that hormones and the mothering instinct or was that her? I agreed to keep Lovey here after she was spayed and her kittens had gone off to new homes to see how things went. As time progressed she seem to be less and less defensive so I contacted Dee and it was arranged for her to come up this past weekend and take her home... and that is just what happened.

Dee was quite smitten nearly immediately and there was no looking back.

Once Dee made it home "Lovey" posted on Facebook about the ride home

The New Adventures of Lovey the cat, aspiring Diva So they told me I was going on an adventure, and I should be ready to travel to my new life. I was fully expecting a tour bus or at least a limo. I was not exactly thrilled with an SUV. Would Taylor or Beyoncé travel in an SUV? I don't think so. I wondered perhaps if my new agent just didn't know who her new client was, so I thought I should spend the first two hours of the ride belting out my greatest hits. Surely once she heard my best songs she would understand. Um, not so much. She turned up the radio and tried to sing with me. I was singing MY greatest hits, not yours, lady. I had been in the back seat in my new travel play pen. I had to think of some way to let my new agent know this was not acceptable. I sang louder. Who is this lady? I don't need back up singers, thank you. I had to find another alternative to get her to understand I am a Diva, and will no tolerate being treated like a peasant . It's bad enough I'm in this SUV, but this big cavernous back seat? With lousy acoustics? No. No way. I had to act fast. What's a girl to do? Temper tantrum, of course. I flung myself at the sides of my playpen. Success! She noticed right away, and pulled over. I was hoping for a replacement vehicle, but got moved to the front seat instead. I must admit, I sounded much better up here. Maybe my new agent just wanted to hear me better! I went back to my performance of my greatest hits. She better have been impressed. I gave a two hour performance with no intermission. Thankfully she recognized that I was not some has been client. I am a Diva. I was treated to a wonderful massage for the next hour. I would have preferred two hands, but my agent made some excuse of needing the other hand for driving. That will have to change. Divas have drivers, after all. I have my work cut out for me. I'm going to have to train this new agent, and get her to understand we divas require a certain lifestyle. Well fans, I must rest for a bit. A diva needs her beauty sleep, after all. I'll update you all tomorrow on my first night in my new mansion. I can't wait to see my master suite. 

Kisses, Lovey

Yup, I think it is going to work out