Happy (Almost) Mother's Day!

Okay, so it IS actually Mother's Day. But this young lady...

... is (almost) a mother.

(Yep. She's almost a mother in the way that you can be almost pregnant. 

There's kittens and they're coming!)

And because she needs a place to raise those babies of hers...

We're baaaaaaack!

(Did you miss us?)

We've opened up the doors at Teeny Tiny Tabby Town for a (potentially) limited engagement because this very special little girl needed us.

And because sometimes you just need a furry shoulder pad.

And so...

Meet Dahlia.

Dahlia's beginnings might sound familiar to our regular readers. She came from a feral cat colony known to us. The one that's run by our favorite kitten catcher.

So feral, that Dahlia is.

Our Dahlia is so feral that she's the the anti-feral. She's a kitty who simply didn't belong to that outside community. She's friendly. She's sweet. She's the most affectionate cat I've met in years (and that includes my own cats). She's clearly known people. But she's also been abandoned... whether that came before or after the pregnancy we'll never know.

Her arrival at the kitten catcher's colony came through a chain of kitties who are already familiar to us:

Our last mama in residence, Miss Mama Mae (or "All the Way Mae", as she was affectionately known)...

Who was the Mama to our last foster failure Mistress Max...

Brought a certain tuxie boy to the colony...

One who looks just like the little lady above (but much bigger)...

(And I've searched for his photo and can't find it for now, but I'll insert right here later)...

Which would make him Maxie's dad (who we call Maxwell Sr)...

And HE...

Brought our new little friend Dahlia to safety with the kitten catcher.

The vet tells us that Dahlia is just a baby herself. 

She's probably no more than 8 to 10 months old. 

Just a baby having babies.

She made herself at home right away.

She unloaded the toy box, but I haven't seen her play with a thing.

She's barely even taken time to put her whiskers in the window.

Although she IS kinda interested at what's going on outside her door...

(Yep, that's Max)

We've got time to get to know Dahlia before her kittens come. Vet estimates that we have a couple weeks to go. 

Maybe she'll sit still long enough to get a decent picture by then.

Welcome back to the Kitten-Go-Round. We'll have new ones for you soon.

Update Central

For those of you who are not on Facebook, we have been receiving Emmy (Mae) updates throughout the weekend.

From Saturday:

"I'm just hanging out with my Mom, making biscuits, watching The West Wing on Netflix."

And in the comments under the photo: "Shortly after this photo, she moved over to the cat tree in front of the window, took a bath, stood on her hind legs to get a closer look at some bug friends on the other side of the window and kept watch on the goings on out front."

From Sunday:

"This ribbon is really fun!!"

And again from the comments: "Girlfriend was chilling on the cat perch in the window when I came home from the market. She's definitely feeling comfortable in her room. I think she knows she's home."

Gee.... Ya think? Love love love love love :-)

Additional updates from an alumnus not named Emmy:

It seems that someone has discovered the top of the kitchen cabinets at his house.

Get a load of that tail!

"WHAT? I should not be up here?"

I guess it's only fitting that our boy Grizzly found his way up to the highest place in the kitchen.

His mama was pretty fond of the view from on top of my cabinets too.

Happy Tails to You

Mae's Friday began like any other Friday. She woke up, stretched, and washed herself a bit. She moseyed over to the foster room door and watched patiently through the glass as I let Chuckles out the back door, greeted all the kitties, and served up breakfast. She chatted with me over her own breakfast, rubbed up against my legs, and supervised the scooping of Ye Olde Litter Boxe. In short, nothing spectacular.

"Yawn... Just another random wintry day. I'll just tuck in here and wait it out."

And nothing could have been further from the truth.

You see, there were weeks of planning that went into making Friday an extra-special, over-the-top, fantabulously super day of days for our sweet Mae.

By 8:15 am, she realized change was in the air. The carrier had come out and I had come in to grab a fleece blanket out of her room. By 8:20 am, she had parked herself under the sofa in her room just in case transportation had been arranged in her honor. By 8:30 am, I had unceremoniously dragged her out and plopped her complaining self inside. By 8:35 am, we were pulling out of the driveway and heading towards the interstate.

I imagine she thought we were heading back to the vet. That's the only place I ever took her before. While the vet isn't exactly enjoyable, it hasn't been a bad experience for her so she just sat in the carrier and chatted amiably with me as I drove... and then I drove for much longer than necessary to reach the vet. Mae kept chatting politely to pass the time, but I could tell she was wondering what was up. Especially when I pulled into the parking lot at a large suburban mall and a friend hopped in the backseat.

The Kitten Catcher had climbed inside the car to give Mae kisses and hugs. She brought a new carrier for Mae to test. Our sweet Mama Kitty spent several minutes inside of it, watching cars drive by in the parking lot while she purred and hugged and snuggled up close.

I bored her by doing nothing new... calling her name while snapping photos of her. I surprised her with the words "Goodbye" and "Be Good" and "Happy Life". And then she was unceremoniously stuffed down into the new carrier and zipped up tight for the next leg of her journey (or at least we thought she was zipped up tight).

Before I pulled away, I looked over into the Kitten Catcher's car to see Mae climbing all over her. Apparently a couple of fingers stuck through the zipper to pet her was just the leverage she needed. Maisy Mae had the strength to push her way through the opening and out to freedom. Thankfully, I had my box-o-supplies for my business along for the ride, which includes a box of temporary keychains. The wire loops for two of these were engaged as zipper locks and off they went on the next leg of the adventure.

"Seriously... Mae is having no fun in here, guys!"

Mae's complaints went unheeded and eventually subsided as she traveled up the interstate to Flint, where she met our very own Teughcats in the parking lot of a local McDonald's restaurant, changed cars (AGAIN!), and continued her course north to the airport. This is probably the place where I should get into the idea of why Mae was travelling north to go south. You see, Mae wasn't taking just any old transportation route. THOSE routes, which might include cars, trains, and commercial planes flying out of DTW (Detroit airport, for the uninitiated), are okay for most of us. But definitely not for the internet sensation that Mae had become. Mae, our very special Mae, had snagged herself a ride on a company shuttle jet flying out of Midland (the mid-Michigan airport that serves Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland also has a special hangar reserved for one of Michigan's largest companies... a company that employs our very special Teughcats).

This is also probably the place where I mention that most of yesterday's events came about specifically because Teughcats (Pat) leapt into action when I first posted about getting Mae to Houston. She began networking to get permission for Mae to ride that shuttle flight that travels round trip between Michigan and Lake Jackson, Texas five days per week. Once permission was obtained, she found co-workers willing to escort a sweet mama cat on board. She found not one, but three people willing to take her just in case weather or other issues hampered our ability to send her out yesterday. She was the intermediary between us and the airport, AND she drove Mama Mae to the airport to see her off. While Mae would have gotten to Houston one way or another, Pat's hard work got her there simply, quickly, and pretty much free for us. When she told me later that being part of the transport made her day, I can't help but think that all of her help made my YEAR. We've got lots of live up to now, and it's only February! :)

After arriving at the airport, Mae met Chelsea... the lady who would accompany her on board for her 2 hour flight home. I have yet to hear a report of her behavior while the plane was in flight. I only hope she didn't split anyone's eardrums with her howling. Although knowing Mae the way I do, I imagine she only had complimentary things to say in her quiet and usual way... or not.

Michigan was in the tail end of the storm that I have been since told is called (no lie) a Texas Hooker. Well, Mama Mae (or All-the-Way Mae) found herself waiting out the winds of this Texas Hooker in a short delay before takeoff. Once in Texas, she found herself packed into ANOTHER car heading north from Lake Jackson towards Houston.

It was in Alvin, Texas that she finally met her forever mom. Sounds as if she was thrilled to do so, considering she had to be scruffed and pulled out from under the backseat of a rental car to meet her. Stuffed back into the confines of her carrier, she made the rest of the journey home. HOME! 6 travel legs, five cars, four honorary aunties and a mom came together to bring Mae home and give her a new name, Emmy. The next set of text messages sealed the deal...

"I'm home!"

and

"Why yes, I'll purr for you while you hold me, Mom."

I knew from the beginning that Mae, now Emmy, was going to the right place, but this was the moment when my eyes started leaking for the sheer joy of it. And if that wasn't enough? This update came in on Saturday morning:

"I checked on Emmy when I got up. She had eaten, used her litter box and toys were in different places. She was under the bed. I laid on the floor, talking softly to her and she said a few meeps back. Then she started walking towards me.

When she first peeked her head out from under the bed, I reached out to pet her and she cowered and backed away back under the bed. I can't blame her since just yesterday I was petting her under the back seat of a car and then pulled her out by the scruff of her neck. But then she couldn't help herself and came right back out, softly purring, sniffed my entire head then spent the next 5 minutes rubbing her entire face all over my face. Then she pushed her way under my head to get to the food dish on the other side of me. She is just too sweet!

She'll have another bit of disruption later this morning when the shutters get installed in that room but then I plan on taking a nap with her this afternoon."

Could this get any better? Emmy the wayward mama cat has a new home with a mama that loves her. She has an older sister named Coco, who is showing interest in meeting her underneath the bedroom door. But most importantly, the sweetest feral cat ever (who was born on the streets of St. Clair Shores Michigan, gave birth to a litter of kittens sometime around the age of six months old, and seemingly had every odd stacked against her) found forever.

There's too much for which to be grateful. I'm thankful that the Kitten Catcher grabbed her off the streets. I'm thankful we were able to give her a home. I'm thankful that she bequeathed me with the terror that is her daughter Max (I jokingly threatened to substitute daughter for mother on flight day, but I digress). I'm thankful for our internet friends... BethAnn who gave her a forever home and Pat who worked her magic to get her there. I'm thankful for a complete stranger who offered to babysit a cat on a flight. And I'm thankful for all of you for sharing this with us. 

We'll just have to wait and see if the next chapter can top this one ;)

And BethAnn? I'll say it so 14 people won't have to in the comment section... UPDATES, PLEASE!! :)

Three's Company

Come and knock on Mae's door.

She's been waiting for you.

She's got a loveable space that needs Max face.

Three is company too.

Max and Ruby are very jealous that Mae has a special spot all to herself. They spend the day knocking on the door, trying to play with her through the glass, and shooting between my legs every time I try to go in or out. So... Mae gets company every day for a few hours, which seems to make everyone happy.

Kind of.

"What is that small one doing up here with Mae?"

Get used to it, Mae. You have a sister waiting at your new house.

Dude, Where's My Phone?

I know it's around here somewhere. I had it last night when I was surfing the kitty blogs. It was right here when I was reading Robyn's blog... and when I clicked over on that fun link about the cat selfies... Where can it be????

"How you make this work? Are Simba's whiskers in focus?"

"This would be SO much easier with thumbs."

"You see Simba now?"

"Hi Mama Lady!"

"Simba, why you hogging the phone? Let Ruby have a turn."

"Which part does Roo touch to make the clicky noise?"

"Does Ruby look okay?"

"Is this better?"

"Hey, Mama Lady? Roo is tired of 'selfies'. This is good enough, okay?"

"Max has this covered."

"CHEESE, MAMA LADY!!!!"

"Whoa, that flash is bright!"

"Much better... now how about a close up of Mae to remember her by?"

"Wait, she's WHERE?"

"Oops..."

Found it.

Excuses, Excuses

Turns out that I had a very good reason for not posting last night...

A mother-daughter blanket on an exceptionally cold night :-)

Mae was there first.

Then came Max.

They snuggled and purred together there for close to an hour.

Max got her sniff on and then she was gone.

But Mae remained... for about 3 more hours.

She would have stayed all night, if I hadn't decided to go to bed

(where Simba was waiting for me).

I'm not certain this was an expression of love by Max as much as it was "claiming the Mama Lady." She's very possessive of her place with me, which is on my chest and under my chin. She demands "top position" when the other cats are there snuggling too. She will come flying out of nowhere to claim that spot as soon as she senses I've got feline companionship. Yep, she's a brat and they let her get away with it. Good thing the other kitties prefer my legs anyway.

Hitching a Ride

If you missed the ultra-unusual Saturday post, be sure to check out my Caturday Art Hop submission. I had so much fun playing around with the picture effects at PicMonkey that I decided to keep using it for today's post too...

Bye, bye, bye... She's hitching a ride!

For those of you who either didn't see the posts or didn't catch the hints within them, our Maisy Mae has a bit of travelling ahead of her. Our sweet mama cat has found her very own mama down in the Lone Star State. She's donned her cowgirl hat and is patiently awaiting while we locate just the right mode of transport for her. 

We are maneuvering behind the scenes and have a couple of potential possibilities for moving her towards forever. But I figure that (with nothing set in stone) it couldn't hurt to check with our wider circle of friends to see if anything else pops up. We would prefer that, for this kind of distance, Madame Maybelline make a couple hour flight over a two day drive. 

If you or someone you know is flying from the upper midwest to the great city of Houston, Texas sometime in the next few weeks and you (or someone you know) is willing to take along the sweetest mama kitty in the world as a carry-on item, I'd love to hear from you at teenytinytabbies (at) gmail (dot) com. It doesn't have to be from Detroit. We drove Garnet to Kentucky. We would be willing to drive Mae to an airport in Chicago, Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, Saginaw/Midland/Flint, etc and transfer here there. 

One way or another, we plan to make this happen sometime in February. Please stay tuned...

A Mother and Child Reunion

"Who IS that?"

"She looks a bit familiar..."

"Esscuse me, Lady. What are you doing in Maxie's house?"

Sniff sniff... Sniff sniff sniff

"Hmm..... "

Sniff sniff... Sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiff!

"Did you hear THAT?"

"Did that little girl just HISS at Mae?"

"Of all the nerve! Who raised her to behave like that?"

"Mae would rather sit in the Lady's lap anyway."

And I'll just soak up all of the Maisy love while I can.

She won't be here much longer :-)