"Lucas"

After much deliberation, we decided to rename my recent foster to "Lucas".  Honestly, I'm not sure what fits this guy, but I don't think "Sherman Part 2" would get him adopted any faster.

Lucas has certainly made himself at home.  He has a new BFF in "Sherman":

It's almost like Lucas walked into our home and Sherman was waiting to say, "Hey new guy!  Let me show you all the sh*t they let you do and nobody yells at you!"  *sigh*  Lucas definitely has Sherman-like terrorist qualities.

Lucas was a great help to me today while I did the rescue's bookkeeping:

  While I was eating my lunch at my desk today, I took a phone call and turned my back to my desk to get something out of the filing cabinet....

Obviously, Lucas was trying to help me with my lunch portion size:

I don't think this guy has slept.  Every time I look at him, he's playing, galloping, leaping, prancing, swatting, or jumping.  He's pulled the tablecloth down off my dining room table, and has eaten the dog food.   There's a "Busy Ball" in the house that I swear is constantly in motion:  "Gallop...gallop...gallop...riiiiing....riiiiing.....gallop...gallop...riiing...riiiiing..."  This guy is *EVERYWHERE*.  

He also licks my ear and purrs the moment I pick him up.  His front paws "knead" with joy that he's being touched and loved. He has the biggest feet I've ever seen, which makes him extra clumsy and endearing.

Can you tell I'm really loving this one already? I wonder if David has figured out there's a new tabby in the house?

The Introduction

I was back at the shelter this afternoon.  My house was just a little too quiet after my last foster was adopted and there was a 5 month tabby boy with my name on him.  I think I'm going to name him "Pete", but am wondering if that name is going to stick.

Pete had been at the shelter since before Christmas.  I did something I never do, but when I brought him home I opened the carrier and let him out.  No introductions.  Nothing.  Everybody else seems to do it without a bunch of drama, so I decided to give it a try. 

Pete's been under my bed since his arrival, but heard me sing the "dinner song"  (don't ask.) and came right out.  Ahhh.....food motivated!

I've mentioned this in prior posts, but I must say once again how VERY stressful it is to introduce a new cat to the others.  Good Lord, my stomach is in knots.  I really empathize with adopters who are bringing a new cat home permanently and have to go through the introduction process.  There are moments where I think "What the hell am I doing?? Everything was peaceful until I brought so-and-so home."

But I press on and give comfort to others in the same boat.

We had a prior adopter call today.  She adopted a cat from us months ago and sadly the poor little darling was diagnosed with FIP.  FIP is fatal and the cat wasn't doing well.  I offered my heartfelt condolences and we talked quite some time.  It wasn't until we were about to hang up the phone that the adopter told me that she felt that I should pay for her cat's euthanasia. 

This is the part about rescue I have the hardest time with - dealing with this kind of thing.  It's a tough one, because she was grieving and a very nice lady.  Tough one, because there's no way I feel obligated to pay for a euthanasia on a cat that was adopted months ago. 

But I press on...

The house is quiet as "Pete" (or whatever we're calling this little dude) muddles through the house and figures out where his place belongs in the hierarchy. 

Funny....because I feel the same way most of the time. :)

Hearts and Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day!

 I grabbed this picture from the kind folks at Annex Cat Rescue - pretty cute, eh?   Of course, it's a tabby and I'm in love :)

Today was a busy day!  I had a meeting at an Animal Services location and drove to a different shelter to do a rescue.  My intent was to pick up a very cute orange and white guy for a new foster Mom.  It's funny how things don't always work out the way we think they should.

The new foster Mom is a lively 86 year old lady that really wanted to foster an orange and white cat from the shelter.  She was quite specific. :)  I felt awful when I got to the shelter and found the orange and white guy I intended to rescue was very very nippy. 

The staff directed me to a fat 4 year old grey girl who had been at the shelter since October.  She was depressed and VERY loving.  Her chubby little body had dandruff from stress and dry skin.  She needed love and lots of it. 

She was PERFECT for this senior lady!!

As I drove a very distressed "Tabitha" to her new foster Mom, I prayed silently she wouldn't poop, pee or barf in her carrier.... When we arrived, "Tabitha"  confidently trotted around the apartment and obediently flopped at her foster Mom's feet for belly rubs.  My heart was full and happy.  But would she like the chubby grey girl?

 I carefully thanked her for saving Tabitha as she gently pat the cat's chubby belly.  She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, "I think we saved each other".

I think so too. :)

Happy Valentines' Day

Shhhh....Quiet Monday

I woke up this morning with a leap!  Mondays are notoriously busy for me and the rescue - especially after a large weekend adoption event!  I jumped into the the shower as any working gal would and ran downstairs to my office.

"Strange.  The phones are quiet."

"10:30 am.  No emails and one phone call about a neuter appointment."

I found myself with the luxury of time and met with a foster Mom at a vet clinic who was taking newly rescued Spencer to be neutered.  It was a happy/sad moment for me.  Happy because it was discovered that Spencer was already neutered!  But sad because he had obviously been abandoned outside.  There was no microchip and lots of lost ads had been put up for months for this guy.  The poor little man.  I wish he could tell me about what happened.  He's a very gentle, sweet guy. 

The day continued to be very quiet.  The rescue's bookkeeping was caught up and laundry folded.  I definitely can *do lazy*, but Monday feels like it should be busy.

But I think I was the only one that felt that way:

Sherman's idea of the perfect Monday.

The Great White knows how to "do Monday".

The adoption event this weekend was a huge success! Friday, EVERY SINGLE CAT was adopted by noon! The rest of the weekend wasn't quite as successful due to some pretty nasty weather. But our volunteers STILL went out in the afternoon and set up the adoption event in one of the Petsmart stores despite the awful conditions. (I love to brag about our volunteers)

I probably should never say that it "wasn't successful". Any time we can talk with people and get the word out about animals who need homes it's a good day.

So that's my Monday. There's no doubt in my mind that things will be crazy again at JUST the moment that I need some peace. So I'll try to enjoy it while I can today. Live in the moment, right?

What Goes Down....Comes Back Up?

A crappy day yesterday seems like distant memory when I'm able to spend 6 hours at a Petsmart Store and completely adopt out EVERY cat we had there today!  It was just me and one other volunteer and we definitely rocked the adoption event!  Honestly?  I don't know if we have enough cats booked to come in tomorrow to make it worth blazing through the snow and ice tomorrow. 

Many thank you's to Shelley who set up the event today by herself and really made all this happen.

We also had one of our special needs cats adopted through one of our foster homes.  We did a mini-fundraiser for Jared back in NOvember who ended up having very expensive knee surgery. Poor Jared would have to be forever on pain medications.  That didn't seem to deter an incredible adopter from giving Jared a fabulous Forever Home! Because Jared was mega-special needs, I waived the adoption fee in lieu of a donation. The adopter paid the adoption fee anyway! :) Bonus!

I also heard about a friendly cat that was obviously dumped in a neighbourhood.  Because the temperature was supposed to drop to -25 tonight, I really felt compelled to meet this guy with hope of rescuing him.  I couldn't leave Petsmart, so one of our volunteers went out to assess him for me:

Although nobody could be sure, but it's possible he's already been neutered.  Anyway, our red head is now safe and warm.  He won't have to worry about freezing tonight.  I wish they could all be so fortunate. 

I'll be thinking of the cats that are cold and have no place to go tonight.  But I'll also be thinking of the soon-to-be-rescued cats that now have a chance thanks to so many adoptions today. 
 
I think I can sleep well tonight. 

   

Tired...Tired

As usual, "What goes up...must come down".  It's been a rough few days.  It's not that adoptions have been bad, or we've had problems with foster parents or cats.  In fact, adoptions have been great and as usual, our volunteers are awesome!

I think these big adoption events make me really rattled.  There's always huge expectations and and I'm spread too thin.  I have problems saying 'no' to the Petsmart stores so now I'm supposed to be in two places at once.  When will I learn that I can't make everybody happy? :)

We have a couple of really cute kittens on our site right now and it's like a feeding frenzy at Sea World.  I've had more than 20 phone calls on them today.  People are getting pissed and I'm tired of answering the phones.  The sad part?  In a few short months there will be more than enough kittens and many will die in the shelters. 

I'm keeping this blog post short tonight.  I'm tired....pizza is coming and I had pizza last night.  I wonder if they'll kick me out of Weight Watchers? :)

"Cow" is our latest rescue.  Does anybody else think he's homely?  He's the world's sweetest little boy, but just a tiny bit "ooogly".  :)

Tuesday Updates

It's always such a treat to take a little romantic-shopping trip with David.  I'm so appreciative to have volunteers who look out for the rescue while I'm nurturing my relationship. (Thank you, Susan!)   I believe rescuers end up getting so caught up in rescue and the animals that they forget about their significant others who need some love too. 

I had a VERY interesting thing happen yesterday.  I decided to get a facial at the hotel where we were staying.  I was relaxed and listening to some wonderful music as the young woman massaged my temples.  She stopped suddenly and said that she is very intuitive and sees "pictures".  I lazily opened my eyes.  I'm not much of a talker while I'm spending money on a facial so wasn't thrilled she was interrupting my Jon Hamm fantasy.  She said that the picture she intuitively received about me was unusual and was hoping if she shared it with me I could give her some insight.  She said: "I see a heart in a steel cage with bars.  Does this mean anything to you?"  I think I sat straight up on the table.  Strange how she could "see" that about me. 

We were back at the shelter today and rescued a couple of sweethearts.  The shelter kindly had both cats spayed and neutered for us and they were lovingly placed into our foster care this afternoon.  Both cats had been at the shelter since early September.  There's no doubt in my mind that rescue was urgent for these guys. 

I just received a text message from a foster parent who took one of these cats this afternoon.  Apparently, he fell asleep on the roommate's lap.  My first thought?  "It must be wonderful to have a lap to sleep on after all this time in a cage!"

There's a large adoption event going on at all North American Petsmart stores this weekend.  We're busy preparing our cats and kittens with hope they'll be adopted this weekend.  I feel like I'm still recuperating from a crazy January and now I'm back to a crazy weekend.  I guess it's all good when it involves adoptions. 

Sadly, we had two kittens pass away after they were adopted last week.  Sure, it happens.  Sure it happens in every rescue, shelter, SPCA - everywhere despite our best efforts to take all the right precautions.  But consoling crying adopters is agonizing.  One of the kittens passed away after being chosen by a 7 year old little girl for her birthday.  The kitten died on this little girl's birthday.  My was heart broken into a bunch of little pieces.  Nobody did anything wrong.  It was just one of those awful things that I consider part of my job and part of rescue. 

Adoptions are great, rescues are good, and my relationship has been nurtured.  I'm feeling a momentary sense of peace and know this is just the calm before the storm of kitten season in the next few months.  I really enjoy this time of year for our foster homes who have been patient for their adult cat adoptions. 

Tonight?  It's all good and I'm going to wallow in it...at least for tonight. :)