Stinkin' Lincoln Has Left the Rescue

In early August, we brought an exceptional family of kitties in our rescue. Mama Catalina and her thirteen (13!) kittens left the shelter and moved into Paula's bathroom. 12 kittens survived and we here at Teeny Tiny Tabby Town fostered 10 of them at one time or another. One by one they all left for their forever homes until just one was left... Lincoln.

Poor Lincoln, the quiet and shy and not-comfortable-with-adoption-hours boy, resisted being adopted. He hid, he growled, he hissed... anything not to meet a potential new family. I worried so much about him when he moved into the Petco cat condos. And then...

When I arrived at Saturday's adoption hours, I found a battered Lincoln. Scratches on his nose and a bump above his eye that were delivered by Lila, the feisty boss of the condos who was completely uninterested in meeting or dealing with our boy. I took one look at him and sighed, wondering if anyone would be interested in a beaten and bruised boy (especially when he hissed and growled on his way out of the condos and to our showing area).

But then a very special young lady came along... A teenage girl who had been begging her parents for a kitten. Her parents began the journey towards kitten adoption by having their daughter research cats and their needs. She read books, researched on the internet, and saved her money. She shopped ahead of time and purchased a litter box, toys, and the right food. And then she came looking for a kitten to love.

A teeny tiny Chanel first caught her eye. But since we had been accepting applications for her already and had narrowed the choices down to a perfect family, I told her that she was most likely unavailable. That's when she asked to meet Lincoln... and a miracle happened.

Lincoln climbed into her lap, accepted petting, and began to snuggle into her. There was no hissing, no groaning, no resisting. He charmed her.

Our sweet teenager whispered more than once that she really liked Lincoln. There was another rescue present that had smaller kittens, so her mother suggested that she meet some of them just to make sure that Lincoln was the right one. Later, her mother told me that while her daughter was holding each kitten she would say, "This one is nice, but I think I want Lincoln."

YEAH!!!! SHE WANTS LINCOLN!!!!

They made their decision at 2:50. Our adoption hours generally end at 3, and each of our volunteers had already mentioned plans for the afternoon and that we had to leave right at 3 o'clock. When we heard that Lincoln could go home that afternoon, all three of us picked up our phones and called our families or our jobs to tell them we were going to be a bit later than planned. 

How could we ask Lincoln or his new family to wait? They had been waiting long enough. And we had been waiting for what seemed like forever to give this boy the goodbye kisses that we had already lavished on his brothers and sisters.

Stinkin' Lincoln has left the rescue. I'd say it's about time, but he left at exactly the right time... and with the right people.

Did I mention they have a lab? Seems my fosters tend to attract homes with dogs (and labs most of all). Charlie must prepare them well ;-)

12 kittens, one mama... all adopted into wonderful forever homes (12 in total since Hudson and Bentley were adopted together). You might think we were ready for a rest, but I'm already hearing whispers about the next midget residents.

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A quote from Connie:

Would you just stop with those uber insanely cute Chanel photos?

Um... okay. Are you sure you really want that? Because I have some great pictures of her from the weekend. Check back tomorrow if you want to see them ;-)