Cold Fingers, Cold Noses, Cold Whiskers Too

Somebody turned off the heat in Michigan yesterday. Our day began at zero degrees, which felt like 19 below. It was actually warmer by bedtime... a whole seven degrees warmer. The kitties of Teeny Tiny Tabby Town spent the day dozing in sun spots just trying to keep warm.

Ruby and Abby stuck together for warmth.

Well, until they didn't.

"Chanel's not touching Ruby!"

"Chanel really WANTS to touch Ruby,

but Ruby said she'd break Chanel's whiskers if she did."

So Ruby dozed alone.

And looked gorgeous doing so.

We exercised a bit of creativity in keeping all of our guests warm during this cold, cold, cold day. Our foster room has a wall of windows, which gives the kitties a fantastic view and lots of entertainment on a normal day. But on a day like today, their room did not retain the heat very well. By the end of the day, we relocated them to another room inside the house... the master suite as a matter of fact. (Let's just say that this is one of those weeks where it works for the better that my husband works out of state.) I relocated myself to the living room for the night.

My daughters and I spent some time (entire minutes actually) creating self-heating cat beds for the clan. We bought solar shades that are made for the front windshields of automobiles and cut them down to size to slip into flannel pillowcases. As the shades are made to reflect sunlight out of cars, they can be used to reflect the cat's body heat back at them when they lay on top of it. The girl kitties bravely tested them out. By the time I went to bed last night, they were all using them as nap mats... except for Zelda (you know that girl was on the electric heating bed, she has dibs).

Abby says, "Hmm... my buns are getting toasty.

It's an odd feeling, but I think I like it."

Chanel dozed off almost immediately.

Our older foster girls are settling in. I opened up the foster room in the afternoon to let some warmer air inside and, to my surprise, they both came wandering out. To be more accurate, Sadie came waddling out.

"Watch yourself, Lady.

Sadie knows where you sleep now."

Actually, it did not surprise me that Sadie quickly took to her surroundings. She wandered every part of the house and even snuck into the attached garage when an unsuspecting person went out there.

Zelda left the foster room but was not quite as adventuresome as Sadie. She found a spot under a bed and stayed there, reluctant to come out again. Our sweet scared girl is ducking away from my hand when I try to pet her. But I've discovered that if I sit down, she will come sit in my lap and purr. She just doesn't want me to make any moves towards her head. I can respect that and will work on it another day.

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Don't worry... I didn't forget that I promised you a Chanel adoption story. On Saturday, we promised Chanel's adoring public that we would accept applications for her during adoption hours from noon to 3. At 12:05, her forever family arrived.

Chanel's new dad is a single dad with two teenage daughters who live with him on the weekends. His kitty died recently and he has been lonely without its companionship. He came looking for a kitten who likes to snuggle... and boy oh boy, did he ever find a kitten who likes to snuggle.

When he took Chanel into his arms, she snuggled up and purred delightedly. She allowed herself to be passed from dad to daughter to daughter and back to dad, snuggling and napping at each stop. She played with hair, allowed herself to be put on her back for belly rubs, and remained completely relaxed... which can be a hard thing to accomplish during adoption hours where the store is full of barking dogs, opening automatic doors, and dozens of people coming and going. Not only were they sold on Chanel, but she was apparently quite sold on them as well.

They held her and visited with her for about an hour, joking that they were going outside to tell everyone else that there were no more kittens available today. They asked fabulous questions and demonstrated immense compassion and a great knowledge of animals. They would be perfect adopters for any cat we had, but for Chanel especially....

Her new dad wanted a snuggler. Our bottle baby prefers the company of people and would prefer to be with her person 24/7. When we mentioned that we had moved her to a foster home with other cats to socialize Chanel into being more "cat-like" and less like a baby, her dad laughed and said he was thrilled to have her just the way she is. He said that he even comes home every day for lunch, so she'll never be alone more than a few hours at a time. I couldn't have picked a better place for her.

Chanel has an vet appointment on Friday morning to receive her second set of vaccinations. After a 24-waiting period (just to make sure she doesn't have a reaction), she will be going home with her new family on Saturday. I don't think we've had a kitten make quite the impact that our little diva Chanel has in such a short period of time. We've got another few days to enjoy her and I'll make sure to take many, many photos before she goes.

In the meantime, enjoy a Chanel photo... Really, she insists.

"You will look at the baby and like it! Remember?"