They'll Be Home For Christmas

What a fabulous weekend for adoptions at the Futures 4 Felines cat rescue!!! The following kittens left us for their forever homes...

Bear 

(at his very first adoption weekend... he was adopted within minutes!)

Butterfinger 

(whose forever family has been waiting for WEEKS for him to be old enough)

Buttercup

(whose forever family recently lost their senior orange kitty... thank you to our vet for sending them our way!)

Cooper

(who said goodbye on Sunday morning as expected... 

He has a fabulous new mom and three kitty brothers!)

And also going home....

(drumroll please)

TIKA!!!!!

After being with our rescue for over five months, Tika was our very first adoption on Saturday. Her new family arrived shortly before adoption hours began and asked to see the kittens. After showing them the younger set, Tika's new dad said "Well, we were really thinking about someone a bit older..." I practically sprinted as I led them to the room behind the cat condos to introduce them to the full-time residents. Our girl Tika turned on the the charm and had her new home won before any of the midgets above.

Tika has a fabulous new home with a mom, dad, and human brother. When we warned them about her habit of flooding the area around her water dish, they laughed and told us that their former kitty did the exact.same.thing. They're a match made in heaven.

I will admit that my eyes were misty as I loaded our girl in her carrier.  

And on Sunday...

MOTHER JEFFERSON!!!!!

Mother Jefferson's new family arrived late Sunday afternoon to pick up supplies for their cat and dog at home when our adoption hours caught their attention. They had recently lost a senior tortie and hadn't planned to replace her this weekend, but after seeing our Mama the wheels started spinning.

Mama turned on the charm... purring and rubbing on her new dad's legs. Her new mom brought their yellow lab to meet Mama, and all heck broke loose. A crazy excited dog got into Mama's face too quickly and she drew blood, slicing the poor puppy's ear. Dog blood spurted everywhere. Can you believe they took her home anyway?

Once Abby the dog was patched up and the nervous energy calmed down, Mama sat and purred while Abby sniffed her gently. Mama will be joining Abby and another cat in her new home. She even has a space to escape over-enthusiastic dogs. There's a cat door in the door to the basement... and the kitties rule that particular level of the house (and every other level of the house too, I'd wager).

Happy life, sweet Mama. You've certainly earned it.

And not to be outdone...

HENRY!!!!!

"Where ARE they?"

Our boy Henry has been waiting patiently for five long months for his forever family. On Sunday, they finally arrived.

"Well, it's about time!"

Our handsome Henry went home with a pair of college students. He will live full time with their parents, where he will be well-loved and exceptionally well-cared for. And some of the best news... Henry has a black lab to call his very own.

His best friend Charlie is thrilled.

And so am I.

When I held him for the last time and told him that I needed to say goodbye, Henry put his paws on my shoulders and licked my lips.  He always was an excellent kisser ;-)

Goodbye my sweet boy.  I will always love you madly.

Someone who did not get adopted?

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And On The Home Front...

Cruzie's Home!!!

 Try not to look so excited about it, Cruz.

 "Okay, how's this?"

"Can Cruzie go back to sleep now?"

Cruz is home with brothers Peeps and Lincoln. We're having a royal wrestling rumble in the foster room at the moment.

"These big boys are crazy!  Can Comet play too?"

Comet and Vixen moved into the front foster room on Sunday. Comet wanted to play, but his short self ended up on the wrong end of most of the big guys's wrestling moves.

Vixen would just rather that those ruffians went back to where they came from.  

Oh wait... that's where SHE lives now.

"Maybe living in a bathroom isn't all that bad after all..."

And when the wrestling is done... a brother cuddle puddle is the perfect way to recharge.

Vixen and Comet eventually joined in, too.

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The girls are enjoying the Christmas tree.

We hear that someone else we know is enjoying his Christmas tree, too.

Can you find Clay in the Christmas tree?

Amy, mom of Casper (aka Clay), sent us the picture above along with this report... "The very mischievous Casper wanted to be one of our tree ornaments. After falling from about 6 ft up, balling up my tree skirt and breaking several ornaments, I decided to line the bottom of the tree with tin foil. Day 4, so far, so good!  :)"

I wonder if Casper knows about Santa's naughty list...

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FYI... We've had a slight name change in Teeny Tiny Tabby Town.  I mentioned that Comet, with his wild hair and permanent expression of surprise reminded me of Seinfeld's Kramer.

Once you see it, it cannot be unseen.  After some discussion and realization at Kramer's first name was Cosmo, we decided that Cosmo Kramer should be followed by Comet Kramer.

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And if all that wasn't enough, we have a new Pet of the Week.  Please check him out and share, share, share.

Weekend Write-up

We spent the weekend catching up with our friends at the rescue and making plans for the adoptions that are on our horizon.  Yep... everyone in our house is considered "adoptable" at this point.  That does not mean, however, that they are packing their bags to leave this week.

The Jeffersons

((Are Not Quite Ready to Move on Up, Thank You Very Much))

I was asked to upload our Jefferson family to Petfinder over the weekend, which I suppose makes them "adoptable" because they are now being advertised.  None are medically cleared to leave yet, though....

Our Mama will be spayed before she leaves us.  I haven't even made the appointment yet.  I imagine it will be another week or two before I do so.  We would like a little bit of time to pamper her and fatten her up (and give her the extra love she so richly deserves for doing such a fantastic job of raising her babies)

 Florence,

 Lionel,

 Roxie,

and Willie Rae are all on Petfinder as "adoptable", but they will still need to visit the vet for a health check and vaccinations before they will be allowed to leave.  Our rescue also prefers to keep our young ones until they are 10 weeks old at an absolute minimum... they aren't yet for another week (remember absolute minimum?  I'm bucking to keep them out of adoption weekend events for another 2 weeks at least)

Someone else has a Petfinder profile, but he's currently listed as being "on hold".  I want him.  My husband is resisting.  I see his point... we already have two cats and a dog.  But I love him in a way I can't quite explain.  And I feel ridiculously guilty for not having that same drive to keep the others (who I also love beyond all measure of reason).  I have another problem too...

What do we name him?

I feel confident that Clay is not his forever name.  We (the kids and I, because remember the husband isn't playing yet) are kicking around others that fit him and fit our family.  The short list includes Neville, Nigel, Leo, and Lionel (I know, right?  How confusing would that be??)  Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.

The babies went online late, late Saturday night.  By Sunday morning, we already had received an e-mail expressing interest in adopting our Flo.  I'm not ready for this... but I will give her happily to a family who will love her forever as much as I do now.

On Thursday... after her vaccinations.

Henry, Abby, Tika

Quick!

Do you remember?

Which one is which?

Henry, Abby, and Tika are healing nicely and almost ready to return to Petco... with a couple of caveats.  The first is that our vet needs to clear them medically, which can happen no earlier than Friday.  The second is that Petco needs to be cleared medically as well.  Why, you ask?

Well... the dreaded r-word disease reared it's ugly head again in the condos at Petco of all places.  When Henry, Abby, and Tika returned to me with upper respiratory issues we closed the Petco condos because it had also become contaminated with our friend/foe ringworm.  Three kittens were removed who were diagnosed with ringworm.  We closed it down for over a week, with cleaners scrubbing and sterilizing daily for over a week before more kittens moved back in.  And... it came back again after the rescue opened the condos.  For a second time it has been shut completely down and will need to go through a major sterilization schedule before we can allow anyone else to move inside.

The r-word invaded my house again, too.  About a week after Henry, Abby, and Tika moved in one of them came down with it.  Remember how I was looking for an alternate foster for Tika but couldn't find an open space?  She brought a mild ringworm case with her from the condos.  She started healing and re-growing her fur within a few days of being on the meds.  Knowing what to look for, I caught it the very first day she showed symptoms which kept it from attacking full force.  Today, you can't see a single sign of it on her beautiful face.  We need a vet to verify it's gone before our three can move out of here, though.  

Henry and Abby had already fought their battles with the r-word as younger kittens and, while still technically able to catch it, had built enough immunity to keep from breaking out in spots.  Neither have shown a single sign of it during their month here.  Their upper respiratory is gone, but they will need to pass the black light exam before they can be adopted.

And here's where I'll reveal one more piece of information... the thing that took our Malibu Adams away?  Yep, the r-word.  She was with us when Henry, Tika, and Abby moved in and that's when we believe the cross contamination occurred (and now you know why I lost my mind that weekend and was ready to quit the whole foster game).  Her current foster mom says our Mally girl is ready for a re-check and might be up for adoption in another week or so.  I can't wait to squeeze the stuffing out of her.  I also hear she's so much bigger than I remember... sigh.

I'll be certain to get you an updated photo as soon as I see her again.

And Speaking of Mally...

I met her four of her brothers on Saturday.  You'll remember that our Adams kittens were actually five of a litter of thirteen kittens born to one super-tired mama kitty.  Born during the annual "Woodward Dream Cruise", all of our babies were named after cars.  Hence, we had Bentley, Hudson, Cruz, Shelby, and Malibu.  After losing one, our five came to me and our rescue director Paula raised the others.  Well, the others are entering the adoption market...

Sister Chevelle, a teeny tiny calico princess who was ever so much teenier and tinier than our Shelby and Mally, was quickly adopted before she ever hit Petfinder.

Brothers Monte Carlo and "Peeps" McQueen (named after Lightning McQueen and his refusal to pipe down) have also been adopted "lightning" fast.

Count Monte Carlo at the adoption expo the weekend before last.  He's Bentley with a black splotch on his nose!

Little Peeps McQueen at the same expo.  I bottle-fed this munchkin months ago (along with Chevelle).  The tiniest one of the bunch is packing up to go to his forever home.

But on Saturday, these four made their initial foray to adoption fairs...

Cooper (who isn't quite so "mini" any longer)

IROC (who has his brother Bentley's tuxie colors, but in person reminded me so much of Hudson)

Lincoln (who has a face that reminds me of Shelby... not sure why)

And Woodward... a fluffy gentleman who has already snagged himself a new home.

Yes, he knows exactly how special he is.

Brother Cruz is heading back to the adoption circuit soon too.  He caught an upper respiratory and needed to spend some time in another foster home (couldn't come back here with my upper respiratory kits because of the r-word which frustrated me to tears at the time).  He will probably be available again around the same time Mally returns.  

Sigh... it's been a rough fall for the teeny tiny tabbies (and their foster mom)

The news is all good from here on out.

It has to be.

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If you wish to check out our rescue's Petfinder listings, you can find them at this link.

If you would "like" or "share" any of the kittens you love (especially if you happen to be near or have friends in Michigan), we would greatly appreciate the exposure for our kitties.

We got calls from Canada looking to adopt Hudson just last week.

Needless to say, we updated his Petfinder profile to say "Adopted".  But we would be happy to entertain long distance adoption ideas for the rest of them too ;-)

Telling the Tabbies Apart on Thursday

Okay, so yesterday's challenge wasn't quite fair (especially given the fact that most members of my own family cannot tell the terrific tabby trio of the upstairs apart).  But now you know the confusion that I'm living with ;-)

The Answers

1.  Abby

Note the big round bug eyes.  It's the eyes that I check whenever I'm confused whether I have Abby or Tika.

2.  Tika

Tika, while it is harder to tell in this picture, is more angular in the face and has "normal" eye size and structure.

3.  Abby

Check out those eyes.  They'll give her away every single time.

4.  Henry

Henry is the easiest to distinguish in person because he is so much bigger than the girls (outweighing each of them by nearly two pounds).  In photos, he tends to resemble Tika so it can get harder to differentiate.

5.  Abby

She's the sweetest looking tabby in the foster room.  She also has the sweetest personality.  Those eyes do not lie.

6.  Henry

This look is quintessential Henry.  For such a lover boy, he can give you the haughtiest glances.  It's as if he simply cannot believe you could be so ridiculous.

7.  Tika

The squint is pure Tika.  She's the hellion of the room and always appears to be hatching a dastardly scheme.

8. Lionel

9. Florence

The key to telling Lionel and Florence apart (aside from the anatomical differences at the back) is in the head shape and in the eyes.  Florence is almost perfectly round in both places, while Lionel is more angular with almond shaped eyes.

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Please Stand By

Our next full post will be tomorrow.  Besides Halloween costume construction, my son's football game, and game one of the World Series (sigh... I'm writing during the 4th inning and hoping for a big comeback), the day got away from me and photos just aren't happening today.

We've had a return of upper respiratory among the upstairs kittens, which involves:

1. A nebulizer treatment with Baytril, Dex, and saline administered twice per day times three            days

2. Clavamox twice daily for ten days

3. Liquid Baytril once a day for ten days

4. Lysine gel twice per day for ten days

This is mainly for Abby... who was so sick on Monday that I was truly worried for her.  She bounced back quickly and, while she is still a bit drippy and sneezy, she is much much much better.  The other two are just a bit wheezy and are already considered mostly healthy (at least in my book).  And imagine the medication process with kittens who are difficult to tell apart... "Did you get your medicine yet?"  Thankfully Abby is a million times easier to dose than Tika (which tips me off yet again).

The kittens were supposed to attend an adoption expo over the weekend, but unless a miracle happens they will stay home with me instead.  I won't be sorry to hang onto them for a while longer.  The downstairs kittens are still a bit young for such events, so we will remain at capacity for at least another week.

I'll return tomorrow with more cute kitten pictures :-)