Kind of a Throwback Thursday... The Alumni Edition

Remember this girl?

Well, I guess it would be hard not to recognize her since she looks exactly the same...

GORGEOUS!

If you can't remember all the way back to the winter of 2013 (and it's been awhile), Mama Clarice Madison moved into Teeny Tiny Tabby Town with her four bouncing babies. 

Bear

Grizzly

Levi

and Misty

Mama was diagnosed as FIV+, so she and her kits extended their stay while the munchkins awaited their second rounds of testing. If the anxiety of their unknown status wasn't enough, we also fought a round with the dreaded ringworm with these kittens. Well actually, it was only one kitten but they all experienced the joy of the treatment.  (Go ahead and click that link. It might have been my favorite post EVER. And if you like wet kitten posts, there are plenty around that date.)

Mama Clarice stayed with us for another few months while we waited patiently (and sometimes impatiently) for her forever family to arrive. When we heard from Heidi, we knew the perfect match had been made. Clarice packed her bags, changed her name to Clara, and moved off to the Windy City for her happily ever after.

We received an amazing update from mom Heidi for her Clara-versary (the anniversary of her adoption). If you remember, she was adopted last year on the 5th of July. Heidi might have been just a teeny tiny late in sending the e-mail update, but I am WAY late in passing along the glad tidings to all of you. Instead of paraphrasing, I'm just going to take the lazy way out and copy and paste her message for you:

As you know, July 5 was actually a VERY IMPORTANT milestone... because of course it was on July 5 ONE YEAR ago that I brought Clara home!!!

Well, Clara is doing really great!! She's healthy, very energetic, gorgeous, fluffy, sweet, affectionate and... what other adjectives can I use to describe her wonderful self?! :) She has brought me so much joy!!! She is SUCH a snugglebug, and such a gentle, loving girl (and I know you know!) :)

Health-wise, we've had a few developments (nothing bad). In October of last year the vet pulled out that cracked lower canine tooth -- and apparently it didn't want to be there anyway, because the vet said it popped right out. The gum healed over nicely and Clara doesn't seem to miss that rotten old tooth one bit. Then in November at the vet's suggestion I switched her over to a limited-ingredient diet, and did THAT ever seem to make her feel great. Things started looking like they should in the litter box, and I think her energy quadrupled. It was really amazing! She hasn't had any respiratory or other issues, and so far, if I didn't know she was FIV+, I wouldn't know!!

By several months in, she had noticeably relaxed too... she was always sweet and affectionate, but it wasn't until she'd been home for a while that she really started running around all crazy-like and playing with her toys with serious abandon. Of course it was a gradual process, but at some point I realized that she was visibly less tense and just had a relaxed air about her, which of course made me so very happy!!

Most nights when I come home, she's on her perch looking out of a large bedroom window, and as I'm walking from the garage, I stop and look up at her sweet face peering down at me (I live in a condo on the 2nd floor), and then once she sees that it's me, all I see is a white-ish flash of color--- which is the cream-colored underside of her tail as she "high tails" it to the unit's door to meet me :)

She's overall still quite a quiet cat, but once in a while she gets in the mood to talk, and then she'll tell me all about it!

One funny thing is that she does NOT like it when I'm on the phone-- which really isn't all that often, but every not and then it must be done. She'll make this funny high-pitched chirp that she doesn't make at any other time, and if she's been on my lap, she'll jump off-- the better to express her disapproval. The first time it happened, I thought that something was actually wrong, and I got all worried-- not yet having become aware of her dislike of this particular activity :)

I've attached a few pictures! (One might be a repeat?) And at some point I need to get some video too when we're playing with her Neko Flies toys... her leaps are truly astounding! :) (Kelly's note... YES, you do!)

Honestly, every single day I think about how blessed I am to have her here with me!!! Thank you so much for entrusting her to me. 

PS... She still has her "toe-hawks"!! :)

(It's me again...) No, Heidi... Thank YOU for making room in your home and your heart for our very special girl. Thank you for keeping us updated and sending the pictures. And thank you for only giving me a teeny tiny bit of crap for not updating the blog in months. I might do it again if someone sends me updates ;)

Wait, what? I have two Teeny Tiny Tabby Town alumnae living here that I could blog about? Yeah, yeah, yeah...

So... Who IS That Boy Anyway?

Hello Handsome.

You've come a long way, baby.... GRIZZLY MADISON!

I knew that one among you was bound to know who that handsome boy is. After all, Heidi is... um... what would we call you, Heidi? Grizzly's grandma? Hee hee hee hee. 

He does look quite a bit like his mama, doesn't he?

I received a lovely update from Grizzly's family, which they have allowed me to share with you:

Grizzly is doing great, loves to show off his fluffy tail, gives everyone hugs and loves to be held so that he can stretch out his legs. He still enjoys water and goes into the shower all of the time. He is so loving that he wakes Joe every  morning around 4 am to snuggle under his chin or on top of his head.

Grizzly is getting big! He is beautiful and always giving us love! He is amazing, he has so much personality. I've never seen anything like him. He keeps growing and eating all of the time, has Joe trained, and is just a ball of love!

Grizzly is doing great with his scratch post. He doesn't like us clipping his nails but tolerates our insistence that his hugs don't leave scars! 

We are trying to get a picture of Grizzly's tail. He is proud of it. We don't know if he is a cat or a peacock with the way he walks around like royalty with it raised high for all to admire.

He gives everyone love and hugs when they come over, no one is immune to his charms :)

So he likes water, huh? Hopefully, this much water is no longer necessary.

There will be more updates in the days ahead.

Your Moment of Clara

She looks absolutely miserable in her new home, doesn't she? ;)

Received another fabulous update from Heidi. The abridged version follows. Be sure to read until the very end of the post. You might miss something important.

I've attached a few phone pictures... I know they're not the greatest quality but they'll have to do until I can locate the flingin' flangin' USB cable for my camera :D  The ones on my camera are better, but it still a bit hard to get a good clear picture since she's always in motion! And I want in the worst way to get a picture of her on top of the wardrobe in my bedroom (which is, not surprisingly, one of her favorite spots but a c-a-n-n-o-t, because every time she hears me coming, she jumps right on down to say hi and see what I'm up to!! Which is totally sweet, and I can't really complain about that... but it does make it hard to get a picture!

(Note from Kelly: NOW you all know why I used the same pictures of Clara from post to post. I'm not lazy about taking photos. She's just so darn difficult to photograph because she doesn't care whether or not you see pictures of her. She just wants you to pet her, darn it!)

And as I'm sure you know, the camera really doesn't do justice to her gorgeous mix of gray/silver and cream-colored fur... she is just so beautiful!!! Of course I am a bit biased, but really, she is such a beautiful plush, velvety-furred girl. That anyone could fail to see her beauty is beyond me :)

Over the course of the last week or so, I could see her getting more and more comfortable in her new digs. Although overall I'd say that she adjusted to the move very well, initially she did often have that "ears back, eyes very very wide" look quite a lot -- but  now it appears only once in a while, and only for things like unusual noises outside. (She's even gotten used to the noise of the coffee bean grinder!)

She's curious and interested in everything that goes on. When I'm in the kitchen, she hangs out underneath the dining room table, from which vantage point she can oversee all that occurs from behind a concealing fringe. The second I go elsewhere though, she's right on my heels, coming along to see what's happening. She is certainly my little shadow, and I love it. :)

She's continuing to eat well... it makes me so very happy to hear her eating with gusto!!

As last week unfolded, she became more and more acrobatic in her leaps and faster in her pouncing at playtime -- I think that went right along with feeling more and more at home. She never gets tired of pouncing on a particular orange stuffed mouse, and when she's particularly excited, she makes the funniest little squeaking noise!! SO cute!!

Once she's had a good vigorous play session, she's very happy to join me on the couch, and there she sprawls on a big pillow in my lap and just purrs and purrs. She usually starts by folding her paws underneath her sweet self and tucking in under my chin... which I love, but this never lasts long because she very soon starts stretching and rolling, and pretty soon she's lolled across the pillow, head back, and in the crook of my arm... and I love that too! :)

I love how plush and cuddly she is, and I simply cannot refrain from frequently kissing her on top of the head... she doesn't particularly love this, but she tolerates it very well :D

A friend and his 7-year-old son visited last Saturday, and Clara did really well! She was a little bit scared at first, but pretty soon she let the little boy pet her. He was very anxious to play with her, but although she didn't play (or purr) she was pretty relaxed. I'm sure that with subsequent visits, she'll come around and be comfortable enough to play with him.

So there we go... the first 11 days with Clara! :) I'm so happy that she's come to live with me, and I still think that I totally lucked out and got THE best cat in the whole wide world!! She has well and truly put her pawprint on my heart.

Thanks for another brilliant update, Heidi! I think you're BOTH pretty lucky to have found each other. Oh... and try to get her to relax a bit. She looks stressed ;)

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Thank you for reading all of the way to the bottom. Does anyone have a good idea for a kitten naming theme? I'm not saying that we need one or anything, or that yours will necessarily be used. But it's always good to have a theme or two in reserve. You know... just in case we need one.