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...

But Keep The Old

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.

Yesterday, we chronicled Levi's adventure in making new friends. But I still have some photos to share of his old friends too.

The Brothers Madison keep their eyes firmly rooted on the prize... 

a feather teaser, of course.

You saw this photo of Levi and Misty the other day,

but it turns out that our girl got around.

(Not in THAT way... get your minds out of the gutter!!)

Grizzly and Misty before they left for their forever homes.

Misty and Bear share a chair.

And I tried my very best to get a family shot, but we had an ever shifting round of willing participants.

Hey, Levi!! Over here, Levi!!

And now we've lost Grizzly.

Down in front!!

Sigh... At least we tried.

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An Update ALREADY!!!

I received a gorgeous collage of our handsome floofmeister Bear, along with a fantastically happy update:

"Bear is doing great... he is just AMAZING. He runs up and down the stairs of the condo like a maniac lol. When he's not running around he likes to pretend to be a parrot and sit on our shoulders (so cute). And at night he likes to sleep on Abe's head :)  Very playful and cuddly like you said, and he loves everyone. He goes crazy with a toy mouse, and can play with it for hours."

I am so happy for the happy ending for our boy and his new family. Love, love, LOVE to hear about my fosters in their new homes (hint, hint, hint... you can always send photos or drop me a line at teenytinytabbies AT gmail DOT com)

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And Remembering a Couple More Friends

I adopted a couple of angels for our website from the VSquillions Shelter. There is a list of Virtual Angels at the website where our girls are memorialized. As soon as I have time over the weekend, I will be adding their pictures to the sidebar to watch over our kitties (and doggie) in residence.

Our first angel is an old, old friend of mine...

And our second angel? Well, I think you might remember her...

I think she's STILL sitting on my shoulder. When Levi's not hanging out there, that is. ;)

Carry on, angels.

Moving On

The weekend brought lots of change to Teeny Tiny Tabby Town. We began Friday with five fosters. By the time I went to bed that night we were down to four.

Sweet Grizzly was the first kitten to go home.

He spent the day snoozing in the sun.

He played one last round of "Dance Like a Fool to Catch the Feather Teaser".

He led an expedition up Mount Swivel Chair.

(You know I'd post video if I had it, but I don't)

He posed for some good bye photos.

And he just plain looked like a stud.

But when the evening came, it was time for him to meet someone very important...

This was the longest our Abby paid attention to me.

I was old news.

She has a baby brother now.

And someone's got to keep an eye on him.

Miss Abby followed her little brother around the house for about an hour... behind the furniture, under the furniture, into the litter box (where she did some housekeeping for him). She wasn't certain that she approved of him playing with her toys.

If I had thought to turn the video camera on just a bit sooner, you would have seen our boy running laps around the track ball to chase that ball down. He got wise to the ball always coming back to him before I hit record.

And before I left the new little family to get to know each other better, we made an attempt at a family portrait:

"DAD! Let GO! We've got stuff to do!"

"Say Cheese!"

Kind of makes you wonder what Abby said to Grizzly, doesn't it?

I'm thinking it wasn't "cheese".

His new family has already checked in with another photo.

They're clearly stressing him out.

On Saturday we said good-bye to two more Madisons.

Misty and Bear went to their forever homes within minutes of each other.

We knew our roly-poly floofmeister Bear had a home waiting for him.

When the time came, he went straight into his family's arms, cuddled right close,

and purred up a storm.

Just like I knew he would.

Miss Misty's new family was enchanted with her from the start.

It was love at first sight.

Can you blame them?

Misty went home to be a playmate for a big brother kitty.

It seems he needed company to distract him away from the elderly kitty in the house.

Yep, our only girl went to a home with two brother cats.

"BOYS? More BOYS? Really?"

"That's okay. Misty will be in charge by dinner."

That leaves us with two Madisons in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town.

One of them has a meet-and-greet scheduled for this evening.

I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

And Now For The News....

Four kittens went to the vet on Thursday. Four kittens were weighed. Four kittens had their nails trimmed. Four kittens got a shot. Four kittens took a black light test. No kittens glowed.

Phew.

The vet has cleared our Madison Midgets for adoption. And you know what that means...

Abby meets her new baby brother tonight.

And Bear goes home with his new family this weekend.

No firm decisions have been made on whether Levi, Misty, and Mama will be going to the store for adoption hours this weekend. Much will depend on my schedule (or rather my kids' schedule, which is still up in the air as I write this).

All I know is that I will be spending Friday trying to get that elusive photograph of all four kittens together... and hugging the stuffing out of them in between takes. This is a special little group and I will miss them terribly.

But this is a good thing... After all, the whole reason we foster is to prepare these kittens for the day that they leave our nest. It's too bad that I don't do as good of a job preparing myself for that day too.

There will be tears this weekend, but they will be happy ones.

Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll have stories to tell on Monday, I'm sure.

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UPDATE: I have uploaded Mama, Misty, and Levi to the Petfinder website. Please share our beautiful kitties (especially Mama). Thank you!

Sunshine Day

A Michigan Monday in early March and snowstorms were in the forecast (again). But outside the window, the sky held this amazing light. It warmed the inside of the house through the blinds that have been closed in the foster room. The glow reminded me of this...

I wiggled my fingers behind the plastic insulating sheets that have been holding in the winter drafts at the window, grabbed hold of the blind cord, and let the sunshine in (which reminded me of another song, but I'll spare you that one). The kittens were, for lack of a better word, thrilled.

They were energized.

Feisty, even...

"Oh no, you didn't!"

"Oh no... of course Levi didn't."

"Yes, Levi DID!"

"You can believe Misty. Look how innocent and cute Misty is."

"Misty IS TOO innocent!!!!"

Miss Misty Moo's face that afternoon was very reminiscent of a certain someone...

I miss my Abby hugs.

Someone else was too busy in the sunshine to hold still very long,

so I brought in reinforcements.

His new family has probably been very anxious to see him dry for a change.

But the other brother...

the other brother is a poser

(the good kind, of course)

There's at least one model in every litter.

The Madison model would be Grizzly.

"Who, ME???"

Yes, you.

Our little man basked in the sunlight all afternoon.

He's sexy and he knows it.

"You're not going to link THAT song too, are you?"

Looking pretty good.

Especially considering that just a couple hours earlier he looked like this...

I'm hoping it's not too much longer. Light fuzz is starting to fill in the ringworm spot on Levi's leg. Ruby's ear is losing the crust. I haven't seen any other spots developing on any other kittens... yet (I feel like I have to keep adding that because with the incubation period, anything is still possible). It's a good sign, but you can understand the certain sort of paranoia that creeps in when their fur is sitting in a slightly different way or if the light hits an ear just right....

The kittens are due for their second round of vaccines later this week. I'll have them shine a black light on them while we are there. If the vet can clear them, we will be saying goodbye to two of our boys very soon. 

Sigh....