While We Were Gone...

Someone got adopted.

Smug little peanut, isn't she?

"Who ME?"

This week, Max got a new pink collar (which she hates and actively attempts to remove at every chance she gets). She got a big brother and big sister (LOVES them, but they are reacting to her with varying degrees of emotion). She's getting lots of snuggles. GUESS how she feels about that?

She got a Halloween costume too.

It's a hand-me-down from Garnet.

And while she posed pretty for a minute...

Max is clearly not feeling the Halloween spirit.

She pouted.

And flopped.

And fumed.

And sighed...

And then she rolled over and wiggled out of the costume all on her own.

Happy Halloween to all. I hope it's dry wherever you are. We're experiencing near monsoon weather here. So we're hunkering down with bags of our favorite candy and a Halloween film fest of the non-scary variety. I don't do scary movies. I do cute... like kittens.

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I owe you more adoption updates. But I will save them for later (perhaps tomorrow, but life has been amazingly crazy so I make no promises). Soon. Very Soon. There will be other news too...

An Update!

I am out delivering two beautiful kittens to their forever homes as this post publishes. I'll tell you more about the experience tomorrow, but while you wait... an update!

I just wanted to forward a couple of pictures for you. One picture is of Graham (now known as Ralphie) the day after he was fixed. He was totally pooped and seemingly found a comfortable spot between some shoes. The other picture shows him in his new perch which he loves so much!

He is doing really well. He is so loving, follows me where ever I go, including the shower. He also wakes me up at 5:00 a.m. (not so loving but we are working on that). He still pounces a lot on my older female cat but he seems to slowly be learning what "no" means. He purrs non-stop and I swear I can hear him from a room away! We are all settling in nicely and love him to death!

Okay, let's do a head count. Did we lose anyone from the swoon? Chris? Do we have to pick you up from the floor? ;-)

I love updates (almost as much as I love the kittens they are about!) Thanks for a great one and for taking such good care of our boy.

I'll be back tomorrow with his sisters' goodbye stories.

The Goodbye Girls

On Saturday, I arrived at our rescue's adoption event with three little girls who were looking for their forever home.

They look thrilled to be there, don't they? This is their normal adoption event behavior. Snooze with their paws outside of the cage and pretend that they're not interested in meeting anyone.

"Princess Torii won't look at you. You don't look at Princess Torii. Then Princess Torii goes home and forgets she was ever here... Deal?"

Apparently, that deal was not to be honored this weekend. By the end of the afternoon, we had met a wonderful couple, approved an application, and on Sunday we said goodbye to Princess Torii.

Our pretty girl went to the perfect home with a mom and dad that love her very much and an older kitty to show her the ropes. 

We planned to complete the adoption during Sunday afternoon's store event. Normally, adoptions are emotional and seem to take forever to accomplish. Torii's went by in the blur, however. Within seconds of my arrival, (while I was still pushing a cart down a PetSmart aisle that contained a large carrier with three kittens inside, a tote bag full of their necessities, a camera bag, and a purse), I heard these incredible words: "This family is here to meet Garnet."

"Who, ME?"

This family had come to the store Saturday evening and explained to one of our volunteers that they were looking for an older tabby kitten to fill a void in their family. They had recently lost their tabby girl to cancer and both the family and their boy kitty were grieving and looking for companionship. The volunteer directed them to our blog, where they fell in love with Garnet.

They met Garnet and Belle, and a miracle happened. My normally brave and outgoing girl who turns frightened, nervous, and anti-social in the store was putty in their hands. She accepted attention, allowed herself to be held, even permitted being held on her back like a baby while getting her chin and belly rubbed. She not only allowed it, but she loved it. A match was made, an application was submitted, and Garnet will be going home to her new family on Monday. She will have a mom and dad, a human brother and sister, and a kitty brother who is waiting to romp and play with her.

While Garnet's new family was filling out their paperwork, another family arrived looking for a quieter, snuggly kitten to share their lives. They looked at some smaller, younger, and livelier kitties before setting their gaze on Belle.

They loved her markings, loved her quiet nature and soulful eyes, asked all of the right questions and (before I knew it) asked to fill out an application to adopt her. Before they left, they consulted every expert in the store, filled up a cart with items just for her, and went on their way home to prepare a special room for her arrival. When Belle goes home on Monday, she will have her own mom and dad, two human sisters and a human brother. She will be an only kitty, which just might be the perfect situation in which our quieter, shyer sister can brightly shine.

It's amazing how the universe sends the right people at the right time. While it seemed these girls had been with us for far too long, it was simply because their families hadn't been looking for them yet. 

We still have Garnet and Belle in the house for one more night, so we'll be doing lots of snuggling, playing, and celebrating before we send them on their way. 

This little girl moves into the main house where she belongs on Monday night.

Fosterless? Perhaps. Perhaps not, though. Stay tuned.

Be Our Guest

Music ahead... Sorry, Jeanne ;-)

Be our guest

Be our guest

Put our Belle to any test

It's been weeks since we've had any applications

We're depressed

She has style

She has flair

Look at all her pretty hair

She can snuggle and can purr with all the best

So don't pass your chance up

You really need to snatch up

Our very best

Be our guest

Be our guest

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Many people quickly point out the resemblance between

and

But the closest kitten in the room to a true Ruby Roo?

Belle, that's who.

It's in the expression and in the eyes and in the gentle personality.

Speak up now and I'll even send her home with her favorite box.

Three Sweet Girls

To the tune of a popular nursery rhyme

Hummmmm...

Three sweet girls

Three sweet girls

They need a home

WE NEED A HOME!

They're quiet and loving and don't eat much

They give lots of love and they rarely fuss

They will enrich your life with lots of hugs

My three sweet girls

WE'RE THREE SWEET GIRLS!

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Garnet, Belle, and Princess Torii are three extra-sweet, extra-loving, extra-playful, extra-affectionate, extra-special kittens who are long overdue in finding their forever homes.

We've wracked our brains to figure out what is holding off potential adopters. 

It can't be their looks. Have I mentioned how drop-dead gorgeous these girls are? 

It can't be their personalities. Unless there are people out there who don't like sweeter-than-candy kittens. But these people can't possibly exist, can they?

It can't be their health history. Who would not appreciate receiving a kitten who has been fully vetted, received all of its vaccines, and has already been spayed? 

It can't be their size. They're kittens... still fun-sized! Although they are getting bigger by the day... which is why we want them to find their forever homes before they are squeezed out in the market by smaller-but-not-cuter kittens.

So the kitten catcher and I debated marketing tactics. We thought about going the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee route and offer "Lunch With The Roo" for anyone who visits Teeny Tiny Tabby Town and adopts one of our girls. But then we remembered who we are talking about...

Potential adopters who visit my house would be more likely to engage in a rousing game of  "Play Hide and Seek With The Roo" followed by "Chase The Ruby Blur Throughout The House"

Without Ruby's cooperation, we're left with bribes. The rescue is holding a super-special adoption event this weekend. All adoptions which are approved from applications received between now (yes Jan Brady... right this very now) and next Sunday October 27th will receive a very special gift package from that kitten's foster mom. So yes... if you adopt a kitten from my house, you will receive a gift from ME! Your kitten will take home very special items from Teeny Tiny Tabby Town, ones that they treasure and consider "important". Saving you money and making your kitten feel "at home" from the moment they arrive? Yep, I'm working it for you.

Now, let's get to adopting already!

Yes, Sir... She's My Baby

I never intended to adopt a single one of my fosters.

Not even this one, even with as cute as she most definitely is.

Psst... Don't tell the Roo, but I could have given her away when she was a baby. If there was ANYONE in her litter that I would have planned to keep?

I think it probably would have been THIS troublemaker.

RUBY made that call. I just let her. I wouldn't give her up for the world now, but then? I would have sent her on her way if she had been willing to go.

As I've gone through my fostering experience, I've always been able to put up a wall between my fosters and my heart. Don't get me wrong. I'm not cold-hearted. I love each one of them beyond measure. But there's a certain section of my heart that the fosters don't get in. It's what allows me to be the big bad foster mama who wrestles them down for medication and baths (and then not get my feelings hurt when they don't like me very much). It's what allows me to give them away nearly tear-free when the time comes. It's what allows me to be happier for them than I am sad for me when they find their forever family.

Until this time.

A funny thing happened on the way to forever with this particular group of fosters. I fell in love with each of them. Not just in my foster mama way, but in that way. Maybe it was because they were with me for far too long. Maybe it was because I had to extend more of my heart towards them in order to get them to love and trust humans. Maybe it was because I suffered a loss along the way and there was a face missing around here. Whatever it was, I couldn't imagine letting them all go when the time came.

Ask the kitten catcher... she'd tell you, if she could only figure out how to comment on the blog ;-)  On any given day I would talk about keeping one of them. It was rarely the same one for the same reason. I couldn't make up my mind to save my life. I even asked you guys and got no concrete answer. (By the way, did you ever figure out who kittens A, B, and C were? The clear majority of you seemed to think I should keep kitten B. I'll bet his new mama is glad that I made a different decision though)  I used to think that if I were willing to keep any of them, then I'd just wait for adoptions to roll in and then keep whoever was left over. But that didn't seem right somehow either.

In the end, it was a potential adopter who pushed me to make my decision... a couple of them as a matter of fact. Last week, we were approached by a few different people expressing strong interest in one of our All Stars. And I fell apart at the thought of it. My heart started beating a million times per minute. My hands were shaking. I felt sick to my stomach. I knew that I couldn't give her up. Not to any random adopter. Not to any of you either. She was mine. She is mine. And she's proving it every single day.

Meet Ruby's baby sister.

It's not official yet (as in I haven't signed my name in blood for her, but I have told my husband that I want her to stay... I think the response was something to do with not needing three cats but not being able to stop me, so I'm calling it a yes). Her name remains Maxie, or Max for short. She answers to it and it's cute. Besides, if you have preschoolers of a certain generation you may have come across a Nick Junior cartoon about a bunny brother and sister. It's called Max and Ruby. It's perfect.

I may have figured out that part that cinched the deal for me. There are times, although it's not frequent and it's not long-lasting or over-whelming, that I look into this little girl's eyes and another soul is peering back at me.

How could I possibly ever let her go?

Tails from the Adoption Event

Sigh... It is frustrating enough to come home from adoption events with the same number of kittens with which you left in the morning. It is frustrating enough to be presented with adoption applications, but said applications do not represent qualified adopters. But really? REALLY? Some of the things I see and hear while trying to adopt out a kitten is enough to make me shake my head hard enough to rattle my brain. My eyes might freeze permanently into the rolled position.

I know none of you would ever commit the following transgressions (at least, I think you wouldn't). But, just in case, here are a few things you may wish to avoid during your next visit to an adoption event.

1. Sticking your hand in a cage and touching a kitten while loudly telling an adoption counselor that you don't like cats.

2. Placing an "order" for a kitten: "Do you happen to have any medium-hair, silver coat, not-tabbies with blue eyes who will be a non-shedding lap cat? No? Can you see if you can find one for me? No? Will you keep my phone number and call me if you ever see one?"

3. Grabbing a kitten, announcing your true and abiding love before ever truly "meeting" it, and start gushing about the backyard playhouse that your husband just finished building for your daughter... the one you are now furnishing and accessorizing... the one that needs a kitten to live in to make it "just like a real house".

4. Trying to give back the cat you adopted last year when it was a kitten because it got big and simultaneously expecting that you will be allowed to adopt another kitten to take its place.

But this one takes the cake...

5. Dumping animals in the parking lot during an adoption event because you are tired of taking care of them. Specifically, these animals:

Two very sweet, very scared, very hungry guinea pig brothers who were unceremoniously dumped because they were "too much trouble".

The wonderfully caring staff at PetSmart sprung into action. They brought the boys inside, shoveled out the disaster area of their cage and then made the decision to condemn the facilities anyway. They provided a new dwelling, fresh bedding, water bottles, food (pellets and fresh) and tucked them away in a room behind the fish tank display while a plan was hatched.

These boys are now in foster with one of our fabulous kitten foster mamas. We're not quite sure what the next step is, but if you are local and a lover of guinea pigs and in the market for a pair of beautiful boys... I know where to find them. They are just over one year old, very bonded to each other, and will be requiring a home together.

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I'll be back to the kitten program tomorrow. We'll pick up where we left off... with an adoption story and the pursuit of three more. Be sure to tune in during the week. We've got a lot of very important stuff coming up that you won't want to miss.