You Asked For It. You Got It.

But first, a weekend update...

FROSTY GOT ADOPTED ON SATURDAY!!!

Our sweet Frosty went to his forever home on Saturday afternoon. It was absolutely a match made in heaven. His new mom and dad have two boy kitties, a 16-year-old and an 8 year-old. They are very lonely after losing the 16-year-old's litter mate and needed a bit of spunky sweetness around the house.

After ignoring several potential adopters on Saturday, Frosty trotted right over to his new mom and dad, curled up in their arms, and purred like a loon. He nuzzled and kneaded and told them how much he needed them. He climbed onto his new dad's shoulder and perched there like a purring parrot until the paperwork was completed. 

It's always satisfying to make an adoption connection, but this one was extra special. They so obviously chose each other. Happy life sweet boy. I know it will be.

We have lots of room at the store since both of our new boys have been adopted. We also have need of a quarantine room for Abby's upcoming surgery on Thursday (update... she's doing fabulously and improving daily!). 

The current plan is for Lincoln and Zelda to move to the store on Wednesday, with Chanel hanging out with Ruby for a couple of days until she can officially be adopted next weekend (she met a throng of admirers this past weekend and I imagine she will not be around much after we give the green light). I hate to think about them going, but it is past Lincoln's turn and Zelda attracted a lot of attention this weekend. 

I'm just going to hug them a lot for the next few days...

****************************************************

Did someone request a Ruby-Chanel meeting? Why yes... I believe someone did.

Ruby: "Wait a minute... WHO are YOU?"

Ruby: "Sniff..."

Charlie: "Double Sniff..."

Ruby: "This thing smells suspiciously like a baby kitten."

Charlie: "It smells like kitten! It smells like kitten!"

Ruby: "Sigh... RUBY is supposed to be the baby!"

Ruby: "Go away kid. RUBY is the baby in these parts."

Chanel: "That's what YOU think.

The Lady over there wants a picture of the two of us.

Say cheese."

blink blink blink

Ruby: "Ruby said cheese and played nice.

Now GET OUT OF HERE!"

Chanel: "Golly, what made HER so cranky?

Chanel can't help being teenier, tinier, and cuter,  you know."

I love you, Ruby Ruby Roo.

You're the teeniest, tiniest, and cutest permanent resident.

I promise.

Look Out, Boys... There's a New Sheriff In Town

And her name is Chanel,

Coco Chanel

On Tuesday evening, a teeny tiny tabby and white kitten moved into our front foster room. She joined two five-month-old boys and one three-year-old lady. Chanel sized up the situation and took approximately 3.7 seconds to declare both her arrival and her supremacy.

"Zelda cares not for your 'supremacy.' Zelda merely wishes you to put down that noisy box and snuggle her."

Zelda greeted Chanel in the same way she did the boys... calm, polite indifference. As long as no one is jumping on her or trying to take over the heated bed, Zelda can get along with anyone. She's just happy to be here, even if it doesn't show in the photos. Her main objective in life is to be loved and since the camera doesn't pet her, she's just not interested in playing nice with it.

"Ahem... Weren't we supposed to be discussing Chanel???"

Ah yes, back to Miss Chanel... She loves being the center of attention. Chanel doesn't care if it's human attention, feline attention, or canine attention. She just wants it directed towards her and will peep and tap and chase whomever is not paying court to her.  

(Notice Charlie at the door above. He whines and whines to get inside the room and meet the new kid. Chanel is not impressed with his desperation... or his size. She told him to mind his manners the very first instant she met him.)  

Photographing Little Miss has been more difficult than with any other kitten before her. Quite simply put, she never stops moving.  98.7% of photos containing Chanel also contain a blur. If she deigns to sit still, she is either sleeping or in your lap (or ideally, sleeping in your lap).

Getting a quality Chanel photo-story is my goal of the weekend. Along with finding forever homes for some of the older members of the gang. All four residents of the front foster room will go to adoption hours this weekend, although Chanel will not be allowed to leave us just yet. We should have at least another week or two with her before she goes on her merry way.

Frosty is gaining weight and confidence in the foster room. He is a sweet, quiet boy who loves to play and snuggle. I'm finding that he does not mind other cats, or dogs, or kids. There's no "alpha" in Frosty... just love and a yearning for acceptance.

Our angel Zelda is eating regularly, gaining weight, and happy ensconced in a warm room and loving atmosphere. She is soaking up as much love as she can. She also accepts cats, dogs, and kids. As long as there's room for Zelda in your lap, she will share with whomever she needs to in order to stay there.

And seriously... What's it going to take for Lincoln Quincy-Adams to find his forever home???? I love our boy and it's absolutely no trouble for him to be here, but it's time for his family to discover how wonderful this boy is.  He's not getting any younger.

No decisions have been made yet, but I'm told there is room at the store for a couple more kitties. Depending upon adoptions, one or more of the older three may be taking up residence there at the end of the weekend. I'm not ready to make that choice or commitment yet. Each of the three of them are as sweet as sweet can be, and in their own ways I feel as if they each still need something from me.  The only thing I know for sure is that Madame Chanel will be here on Monday.

Who knows how many servants she will have to attend her...

"Hey Lincoln... Just so you know... 

Chanel will cut you if you catch the birdy before she does.

So just sit there and look pretty."

**********************************************

ABBY UPDATE: Our girl Abby continues to improve health-wise. The new meds were exactly what she needed. No more wheezing, no more sneezing, she's eating and her eye is even clearing up. Now we just need to work a little bit on her attitude...

She's been crabby beyond belief this week, which to anyone who knows Abby is unthinkable. Hopefully, being able to breathe will work wonders for her disposition. She's sitting in my lap right now. It's a start.

Holy Squee!

Okay folks... with so much on my plate right now, you know that there's only one thing that would have brought me to write a blog post for today.  A very teeny something...

Holy Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Meet Chanel

(as in Coco Chanel and her stuffed puppy friend)

Little Chanel was found underneath a trailer several weeks ago. The family that found her contacted us... and then decided to keep her... and then decided this week that a kitten was better off with us instead. 

Eight-week-old Chanel examines five-and-a-half-month-old Lincoln's tail.  Look at that size difference!

"Eeek! That big monster's tail is coming to get Chanel!"

"Ouchie! That tail packs a wallop!"

"Hey Mister! Watch where you put that thing."

"Chanel SAID... Watch where you put that thing!

And be off with you, kind sir!"

"Is this kid for real?"

"Frosty shall stay safe from the munchkin's hiss up here.

No, really... Her legs are too short to reach me."

"Hey Lady... the munchkin is hissing at Frosty again.

Can you open the door and get it out of here, please?"

"Actually Lady, Lincoln thinks a better plan might be for you to open the door and get US out of here."

"Really... it's a good plan... Lincoln promises...

No? Come oooooonnnnnn!"

"Hey guys... What's out there?????"

"Okay... we will just hide out here and wait for her to grow up already."

What a Weekend

If you missed the special weekend edition, you'll want to do some catching up here before reading today's post.

Caught up now? Awesome... Let's get to even more updates!

CRUZIE GOT ADOPTED ON SUNDAY!!!!

Cruzie Adams, the baby who entered my life in August when he looked like this...

The little boy who left me for the store, got sick at a time when I couldn't bring him back home, and went to two other foster homes before coming home to me again in November... My easy-going, love of everybody's life, FINALLY got his very own forever family to love. Cruzie has a Mom and a Dad and two English Setters to love forever and ever. We got an update shortly after they got home and he is settling in quickly and becoming part of the pack. I may smile until next Tuesday.

We received approximately 15 calls about Samson by the end of the day Saturday and another 17 messages that he was a Bengal. We did suspect his heritage, but thought we'd keep it low-key while we evaluated him and his personality. We planned to hang on to all of our shelter kitties for a week while we got to know them, but then Samson's new family arrived. And when you hear their story, you'll know why we decided to let him go early...

Samson (who was Benny at the shelter) had been visited by a very special family on Thursday while he was still at the shelter... Mom, Dad, two spectacular animal loving kids. They fell in love with the cat known as Benny and planned to return for him on Saturday. The hiccup? We sprung him a day early and brought him to the store. When the family heard that he might have been one of the cats to go to a rescue on Friday, they spent most of Saturday bouncing from store to store, from rescue center to rescue center until they found him with us... just as we were packing up for the evening.  

After watching them interact with him and finding out that they had done quite a bit of research on the Bengal breed, we decided to let Samson go home with them Sunday afternoon. The kids even spent quite a bit of time helping us socialize and evaluate the other cats. He has a spectacular family and a stupendous new name... Figaro.

I finally have a beautiful face to put with our fourth Petco resident... Meet Sadie. 6-years-old, sweet as can be, purrs and begins to knead whenever she thinks you might be talking to her. She's amazing and I adore her.

And now for the residents of Teeny Tiny Tabby Town...

Stinkin' Lincoln came home with me at the end of the weekend. He stressed out big time at the store (actually, he's done so for the past two weekends). My son came along on Sunday and was able to distract him so his behavior was better, but we still figured that he was better off at home with me. As you can tell from the photo above, he's clearly feeling no stress here.  

Having Lincoln here alone is actually pretty good for socializing our two new residents...

Frosty moved in on Saturday afternoon. He was a bit nervous, especially around the little lady (go figure!) He spent the evening at the top of the cat tree and by morning had been joined by Cruz and Lincoln in a cuddle puddle... clearly their idea, not his.  

After Lincoln returned from adoption hours, he gained a shadow... a gray one.  

Our skinny little girl with the amazingly fluorescent green eyes spent the weekend curled up on her very own heated cat bed. The only time she left it was to peep for love... a lap is ever so much preferable to a heated cat bed.  

I didn't see her eat much of anything until Sunday, but then she licked some canned cat food and crunched some kibble. We've got a way to go, but we're moving in the right direction.

By the way, her paperwork says she is 3 years old. It's hard to tell here, but she is tiny, skinny beyond belief, smaller than the 5 month old kittens with whom she shares a room. I'm so sad for what she's been through and thrilled beyond belief that she is here.

She also has a name! Her splendid green eyes are clearly the most prominent part of her beautiful face, so I went in that direction for her first name... Esmeralda :)  

My daughter kept suggesting another name in the holiday theme that fit her markings so beautifully... Angel. If she's in your lap and you look down at her back, you see a pair of gray tabby angel wings.  I'll work to get a photo of them soon. In the meantime, just know that our new girl has a middle name too... Esmeralda Angel.

I've taken to calling her Zelda. She's the girl with a million and one names ;)

And outside of the foster room...

Pretty baby Ruby made a visit to the vet on Saturday for her final set of vaccinations.

4 pounds 8 ounces of dead weight sleeping on my legs for the rest of the day.

Don't worry, she made up for it starting around 4 am on Sunday.

Also...

Monkey see...

Monkey do.

Nothing like clean laundry covered in cat hair.

Might as well look that way from the beginning ;)

Thank you, Norman.

In other more serious news... We are postponing Abby's surgery that was scheduled for tomorrow. She just can't kick this latest upper respiratory and we need to get her on slightly stronger meds for a bit and going back to the nebulizer. She's not in desperate straits, just not well (and that's not acceptable). I'll keep you updated.