A Match Made In Heaven

Flashback to late January. A certain tabby girl was intent on finding a cozy place to nap...

"Hey Mr. Charlie... Your bed appears to be in a sun spot."

"You wouldn't happen to have room for an Abby in there,

would you?"

"Scootch over juuuuust a skosh... 'kay?"

"No? All right... How about if Abby finds room on this side instead?"

"Could you please just move a bit to the right? GREAT!

Now if you could just fold your legs beneath you, there would be PLENTY of room for an Abby."

"WHERE? What do you mean WHERE?

THERE! Right THERE is room for an Abby!"

"All you need to do is get rid of this stinky woobie and Abby will fit just fine."

"Where are you going, Mr. Chuck?"

"Well, you don't have to be such a BABY about it!"

Flashback to two weeks ago (before the ringworm saga began). A certain black tabby boy was looking for a place to explore...

"Hey Dude... What's shakin'?"

"This bed is COOL!! Look at all the room you have in it!"

::PLOP::

"Um, Sir? Why are you sniffing Grizzly's keister?

Dude! That's a little forward, don't you think?"

I might add that two (and ONLY two) foster kittens have ever made that move on Charlie. A coincidence that they are being adopted into the same family? I think not.

Of course, there's a permanent resident that pulls that maneuver fairly frequently...

Do you suppose they'd be interested in a hefty senior ginger cat as well?

Are We Sick Of This Yet?

"Yep."

Kitten bathing continues on it's every other day schedule and the Madisons continue to be the best kitten bathers this side of the Mississippi. Just as our calendar is following a rhythm, the bath time procedure follows a certain course.

We begin by dunking each individual kitten until they are wet enough to lather up. The medicated shampoo works better if it is allowed to sit on the kittens for 5 to 10 minutes, so I take them out to apply the soap and grab the next kitten while we wait out our allotted time. So dunk, lather, repeat for five kittens.

They invariably end up waiting together, either inside the shower stall or huddled in front of the heating vent near the door. Doesn't Ruby look thrilled that the Madisons huddle with her for comfort? When their time is up, we rinse... one at a time in the order in which they began the process. 

Can you guess the identity of this particular wet rat?

(Um... I mean CAT)

He spends his time in the water looking for escape routes.

"Will NO ONE rescue me?????"

"Don't worry, Brother. It's all over now... for YOU, anyway."

And who might THIS be?

I spend a lot of time talking about what wonderful bathers the Madisons are.

But this little Jefferson lady is rather fantastic about the experience herself.

"Can Ruby come out now?"

They look pretty pathetic when they're wet and scraggly, but not to worry...

They fluff out nicely as they dry.

I may be prematurely optimistic, but this round of Battle Ringworm is going better than I had ever expected. Levi's condition has not progressed. He has his one prominent spot on his front leg and a slight thinning of fur over one eye where his affected paw would wash it. Ruby has a slight crust on the edge of her ear. It might be ringworm, it might not. But it has gone no further since we began bathing. The other three kittens remain blissfully clear (as does their Mama in her room upstairs). Keep your fingers crossed that they stay that way. Two of them have families waiting for them. :-)

As far as the rest of the permanent residents go, I'm watching and waiting. Not that I'd put any of them into the bathtub anyway. Norman has always had thinning fur on his ears, so he gets medicine drops just in case. As you might expect, this does not please him.

So he steals my pillows in protest.

A Thief On Tuesday

"HEY! Look what the people left lying out!"

"Simba doesn't mind if he does..."

"Dum-de-dum... Which one will Simba choose?

"Nope. That one is broken. Hmm. That one is too salty.

This one might be a possibility..."

"SCORE!"

All would have worked well for Simba if he had been content to eat his prize on the sofa, but he somehow got it into his fuzzy little brain that WE were his primary roadblock to eating his precious chip. And so he took it to the floor... once, twice, three times. And every time the ending was the same:

Nobody said he was brilliant. We love him anyway.

Splish Splash

For those of you on Facebook, you may have seen some of today's photos already. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them again and again along with the new ones.

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Splish Splash, they were taking a bath...

"HEY! Do you MIND??!?!? Grizzly is in the BATHTUB!!"

Our every-other-day bath routine continues, and the Madison Midgets continue to be the very best bathers that we've ever had here in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town (Thank Goodness!)

"WHY did you not tell Bear how RIDICULOUS he looks?????"

"Oh honey... What happened to YOU?"

"Misty knows just how you feel."

"WET!"

"WHY in the #@$% is Ruby WET??!?!?!!!"

"This must be all YOUR fault!"

"Not GRIZZLY'S fault. The LADY put him in the water.

Oh Lady... Grizzly is VERY disappointed in you."

"RASPBERRIES, Lady! Raspberries in your general direction."

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IF I happen to disappear  for a day or two this week, do not worry... nothing is wrong. My girls are both in the local high school's production of Les Miserables. In the next 6 days, we have 3 dress rehearsals, 5 performances, a cast and family potluck, and a cast party in addition to normal life and a boatload of Boy Scout activities for their brother. 

If you need me, I'll be in the car (or in the theater). I'll try to break out from time to time to photograph kittens and blog them for you.

The Blog Post That You Absolutely, Positively Do NOT Want to Miss

Not three minutes after I complained to my husband that this litter of kittens never sits still for a group shot, I walked into the foster room to find this...

"You were saying???"

Four kittens who not only stayed still when I came through the door, but stayed put long enough for me to focus a camera and take a picture? Unheard of! 

Yep... I knew it was too good to last.

"Excuse me... Lady? Bear requires his snuggles now."

"You going to snuggle him or what, Lady?

You KNOW he won't stop peeping until you do!"

To this little family's credit, there is a very important reason why group photos are next to impossible. The babies are so excited to see me that they stop whatever they are doing and run to me as soon as the door opens. They want love and they want it now. 

There could be worse qualities in kittens ;-)

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As I told you yesterday, two of our Madison Midgets have already been spoken for. One of the boys even had dibs called on him before he ever took up residence here in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town.

"HEY! What can Bear say? Bear is SPECIAL!!!!"

Yes, Bear is extraordinarily special. Our sweet little love-muffin of a kitten has always been people-centric. He loves his family, but he loves YOU more. Bear is the first kitten to complain about a lack of attention. He wants kisses. He wants cuddles. And he wants them all of the time.

The floofiest kitten in the room is a roly-poly powder puff of a boy. Black fur mixed with tabby stripes, a white medal on his chest, and white feathered hairs on his legs... and none of it pointing in the same direction. My daughter likens his hairdo to that of Albert Einstein. It's a perfect description of him.

The Madisons came to the store for one day a few weeks ago... the day they moved from their last foster home into mine. During the couple hours they were there, they attracted a LOT of attention. And that's when Bear met and charmed his forever family. They waited patiently for the kittens to be old enough for conclusive FIV testing and now they will wait just a bit longer while we chase away the ringworm fungus.

He is DEFINITELY worth the wait, I promise.

But as much as I love to talk about Bear (and as much as Bear would like to talk to you), the most incredible adoption story of the litter belongs to his brother Grizzly. It's not quite my favorite adoption story of the year, but it's close.

Because our amazing black tabby Grizzly... the floofy little man who lives life on the edge, the handsome little dude who would like nothing better than to ride a broom, the smoldering-eyed devil who waits at the door waiting to charge into the world (and your hearts) has snagged himself a fantastic home.

Grizzly has a very excited family waiting for him. He has a dad, two human sisters, and one very special older sister of the feline variety. You might recognize her...

YES!!!!

Grizzly's adoption story may not be my favorite of the year. But that's only because his new kitty sister's adoption story will be my favorite one of ALL TIME.

Earlier this week, I discussed the up and down roller coaster ride of fostering... and the epilogue to Abby's adoption story was a crushing blow for all of us. But as hearts began the process of healing, they found themselves irresistibly drawn to the rascal in the front room. 

And who could blame them?

Grizzly's new family is so anxious for his addition to their family that offers were made to bring him home even in the face of a potential ringworm outbreak. They love him so much that they were willing to give a kitten BATHS! But I just couldn't risk him being contagious to a very special girl. Call my keeping Grizzly for a couple extra weeks and exposing myself to kitten claws in a bathtub full of water a simple gift of love...

Because  if her family ever sent her back, I would keep her forever without a second thought.

Not that they're thinking about it.

They love her as much as I do.

Or maybe more.

She seems pretty happy with them, too.

But I am wondering why on earth she is in the car in this picture...

It kind of reminds me of another kitty I love.

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The good news is that there has been absolutely no spread of the fungus among us over the past few days. Levi has a spot. Ruby has a potential spot that we're treating. Not a single, solitary hint of a spot on anyone else in the house (feline, canine, or human). While I'm not naive enough to believe we are completely in the clear, I am feeling hopeful that we caught it early... and preparing for any eventuality anyway. As we enter the weekend, I'll be bathing kittens. Woo Hoo (can you feel my excitement?)

Have a great weekend everyone!