Friday, January 4, 2013

A Weekend Treat

Our Petco cat condos were frightfully empty for the holidays... and beyond. Every available cat and kitten had been adopted and we, quite simply, had no one who could move in. On Friday morning, Paula and I went to the county shelter to see if we could remedy that situation.

Meet Samson... an extra large, strikingly handsome hunk of tabby cat.
He's the confident and charismatic leader of the new pack.

Samson's amazing markings from behind...
Told you he's a handsome devil.

Ralphy is Samson's new partner in crime.
His great big round eyes make him look innocent.
Looks can be deceiving.

Lila is the lady of the group...
Tabby and white, she's a pure delight
(Except to the boys whom she merely tolerates)

A 4th member of the crew is beautiful Lady Sadie.
A six-year-old black cat who is calm, solid, and a bit camera-shy.
If you check back later, I'll insert one here by the end of the weekend.

And then there's this charming young lady...

A gorgeous young cat (or older kitten)
Skinny beyond respectability and dirty beyond belief.
She was supposed to go home with Paula but...

The mama cat and four adorable kittens I pulled for Teeny Tiny Tabby Town (I know... I was supposed to be going on a break after the boys moved outtested positive for FIV... Not a death sentence or a reason not to bring them into foster, but our vet decided it would be best for them not to live with me.  Abby's chronic upper respiratory and upcoming surgery puts both her and Mama at slight risk, so Mama and the babies moved in with Paula instead.  She has a room just for them and no one sick at the moment, so...

Our dear sweet girl moved in to the front room.

Cruz and Lincoln are thrilled beyond measure to have been sprung on their last night here. Unless I'm going into the foster room, and then they want inside ;-)

Paula currently has this young gentleman in residence.
He was pulled out a snowdrift, 
freezing and half-starved, shortly after Christmas.
His name is Frosty.

Frosty is going to adoption hours tomorrow.
If he doesn't find his forever home, 
he will be coming home with me to keep our sweet girl company.
Which brings me back to our little girl...

What shall we name her?
Mostly white, purrs non-stop, eyes of gorgeous glowing green
(a green that's not picked up in the photos yet)

If she ends up here with Frosty, perhaps we'll want to give her a winter name?
Suggestions welcome,
Although I don't promise to take them ;-)

I meant to mention how amazing it was that right before our arrival, representatives of the Michigan Humane Society (who were also frightfully low stocked) took 20 cats from county to their no-kill shelter. Their 20 being gone made it a bit easier and less heartbreaking when making decisions... although I do wish we could have taken them all. Their 20 plus our 10 means that 30 cats were sprung today (in addition to the two that were being adopted while we were there, so 32!)










25 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Delilah is Lila's full name. It started as a joke because she clearly does not appreciate Samson or his shenanigans. We shortened it to Lila as a favor to her. ;-)

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  2. Samson is a Bengal. Please be careful who you adopt him to. A lot of people are not ready for their energy and brains. I can only say this as I have two Bengals myself.

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    1. I suspected as much. He's a good boy, but we will absolutely be careful with selecting his forever home.

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  3. Sorry, I meant to say something about his coloring. His coloring is considered Marbled.

    This forum is full of awesome people. There are some people that do nothing but rescue Bengal Cats. They have TONS of information.

    Here is the Link.

    http://phenomi.net/bengalchatter/

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    1. Thanks for the link! I'll be sure to check it out and pass it along.

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  4. what about calling her Winter?? simple and to the point.

    nice saves.....glad that the FIV family is safe.

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  5. Sophia. I don't know why, that just came to mind when I looked at her. How wonderful to be able to help 32 in one day!

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  6. Lumi means snow in Finnish and I think her eyes are luminescent

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  7. I like Winter, and also Lumi... But my brain is stuck on Sandy. As in Sandy Claws. It's dorktastic, I know. :)

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  8. I like Lumi too. Her eyes are amazing!

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  9. My my, when I first saw Samson's eyes I thought he was a long lost relative of Henry and the gang. Then I saw his markings. Simply striking and GORGEOUS! So happy that 32 cats got rescued. You picked out some wonderful looking cats Kelly, best wishes to them all. Good suggestions so far for the new addition. My first thought was Emerald because of her eyes being green. Snowflake would be another idea.

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  10. What a gorgeous bunch - yay to rescues!

    I don't know what her name should be, but she's got strikingly gorgeous eyes!

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  11. what an awesomely wonderful problem to have! :)

    and Samson is a beautiful boy..Do you know Samson is a Bengal? They are a pretty unique breed and often stand out in personality as well as looks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_(cat) and they tend to be very very vocal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aPjetuyI6w I met one once, and I so wanted one, but they are so much work and so very very loud.

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    1. Yep... he's a Bengal. We suspected as much when we pulled him, but you never can be 100% certain with shelter kitties. He is an incredibly cool, incredibly mellow cat (so far) who gets along with everyone at the store and has amassed quite the following... roughly a dozen phone calls for him already. His adoption tale is as special as he is. I'll spill on Monday.

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    2. a mellow bengal? sounds like an oxymoron to me :)

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    3. Or perhaps after being in a 2x2 cage for three months, he hadn't quite figured out that he could get back up to speed and stretch his legs yet. ;) He IS a gigantic sweetheart, that much I know.

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  12. You could name her Emmy for her emerald eyes.

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  13. I'm late to reading this post, but what a great one it is! I so admire people who can go to the shelters and pull animals. I don't think I could take the guilt over the animals who are left behind. How do you decide...?? do you take the ones who have the greatest chance of being adopted, or the ones who have the greatest need and are the most likely to be put down??? (sorry, that's a rhetorical question)

    Anyway, I'm cheering over the 32 animals who got a new chance at life on Friday morning. I'm tearing up even as I think about it ...

    I like either Lumi or Emmy as a name for the beautiful unnamed gal with the beautiful eyes.

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    1. I'll answer this again in Monday's post, but quick answer (because it's important and everyone does it differently)... Who we pull is a combination of all of the above. We got incredibly lucky that 20 had already been pulled, which lessened the tension of making sure we got the right ones. After meeting all of the available kitties, I had the staff put clothespins on the cage doors of the cats who had been there the longest. We made a decision on our first pull (Sadie... an incredible sweetheart of a 6 year old black cat) and then introduced her to the others until we had 4 who could live together at the store.

      The county will keep them as long as they have the room so the removal of 32 cats makes it so that everyone there has MUCH longer now. We've got our eye on the next few that we'll take when these ones are adopted.

      So yes... the ones who most need to get out that also have the best chance to be adopted. And no... that wasn't as short as I intended. ;)

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  14. How about Esmeralda? For the green eyed beauty without a name?

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    1. I love this. Also, the FIV mama's original name was Esmeralda ;-) If her foster mom isn't keeping it, I may consider it. I also have a snow name in mind. I'll let you all know on Monday what her name ends up being.

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  15. What a sweet group of kitties! I hope they find forever homes soon!

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