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.

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

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 ;-)

M.E.N.A.C.E.

Okay, I know that I've used the word to describe previous kittens in our household... but the only word that truly applies to our darling Chanel starts with an m, ends with an e, and rhymes with tennis.

Yesterday afternoon, I opened the doors to the foster room and let the kittens run amuk. Well... Lincoln ran amuk. Zelda took one look outside the door and went back to her heater bed. And Chanel? Well, Chanel decided she was in the mood for a little social media.

A screenshot of yesterday's Facebook post.

I don't think she missed a single solitary key on the keyboard. Chanel checked the battery life (100%... WooHoo!). She disconnected me from the internet twice, turned off the touchpad mouse innumerable times, and searched the internet for only words that she could spell. When she completed her havoc on the front side of the laptop, she ran to the back and unplugged it (goodbye, battery life). And then she hopped off to terrorize the others for a moment...

"Lincoln... The toys in the basket belong to Chanel. 

The roundy-ball in the track? Also Chanel's.

Don't touch the mouse on top. That's Chanel's too."

"WHAT?? He's moving out soon anyway...

All Chanel's... All Chanel's... All Chanel's!"

And so Chanel ran amuk, amuk, amuk for a whole hour...

Until this happened...

Shhhhh... Baby's sleeping!

From sixty to zero in 3.1 seconds flat...

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

Meanwhile, back in the foster room...

I'm not sure I've ever seen Zelda cranky... let alone this cranky.

What's up, Zelda?

(Insert maniacal laughter here)

"Abby's butt is so warm!!!!"

"WHAT?? She wasn't ON it!

And it's WARM!!!!!!"

"But I would have been on it... Please make her move."

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

Big changes in store today. Lincoln and Zelda are scheduled to move to Petco this evening. Abby will move into the front foster room to facilitate her fasting for tomorrow's surgery. Chanel will join the general population to keep Ruby company (Lord help us all if the two of them join forces)

Ruby will definitely need the company. In addition to being Lincoln's primary partner in crime, she spends an awful lot of time like this...

She gets around, doesn't she?

What's that, Ruby?

"That wasn't nice, Lady..."

Gotta go hug a couple of kitties really hard and really long for the rest of the day.... I'll update you all tomorrow.

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.