A "Canada Day" Smile

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
Love, Beth

(and "Butters" who desperately wanted outside with me today)

(Butters was a cat I rescued from the shelter and made him a permanent member of the family. Seriously. How cute is Butters?)

Rescuing Little Q-Tip

You can imagine my surprise and excitement to receive a voicemail last night from one of our younger foster Moms. She said her Mom would LOVE to foster Q-Tip and could I rescue her?

"COULD I RESCUE HER??? YESSS!" I think I must've jumped out of my chair with the news.

I rescued four cats today, but I couldn't resist taking a video of little Q-Tip's big day. While you're watching the video, please don't forget that this little cat lost her kittens, lost her home - lost everything...



When I see a video like this, I'm overwhelmed with a sense of joy and pride for what we do.

I hope the good people that make it possible for me to rescue cats from this shelter feel the joy in this moment.

A Sunday Rescue and an Urgent Plea

I decided to make the trek to the shelter on Sunday for a rescue instead of today. One of our foster Moms was going to be near the shelter that day and wanted to swing by to pick up her new foster cat.

"J" was funny because I had already given her the little monkey in the video from Friday. But she couldn't get "Katy" off her mind. When "J" picked up Katy, she melted into her arms. J carried her all around the shelter and didn't want to put her in the carrier right away. It was the sweetest sight seeing that little grey girl limp in her arms and purring. She knew she was safe. I'm pretty sure Katy still feels safe:

I also met another foster Mom there who rescued two kittens. I think she may have rescued The World's Cutest Orange Kitten - EVER. The little guy was in a cage by himself - 5 weeks old - and looking like he could take on the world if we let him. Holy Moly. Loved that little sweetie!

We have a new foster Mom that requested a pregnant Mom to foster. This time of year, the pregnant Moms don't make it out of the shelter. There aren't enough foster homes. It wasn't easy to choose, since they were all desperate. But this little girl's cage was already marked for euthanasia this morning:When I took her out of the cage to check on her temperament, she started licking my face and purring. "Yesss....you're coming with me, little girl." Thanks to the foster Mom that stepped forward. This sweet calico came *this* close to dying this morning.

I have an URGENT PLEA for a little girl at the shelter with a really bad name: "Q-Tip"

Q-Tip is going to die. She's been in the shelter for TWO MONTHS, her kittens are already dead, but the staff have been trying to save Q-Tip. She's a very very sweet little cat that is getting so depressed she hardly lifts her head up when I pet her. Her eyes are begging me to help her. If you can help Q-Tip, (and promise me you'll change her name!), please let me know as soon as possible. The shelter can't hold her any longer - it's just too full in there right now.

I had looked forward to a quiet Monday of answering emails and catching up. I knew by 8 am it wasn't meant to be. Amazing how I can spend ALL DAY on cat-related emergencies and challenges. Thank heavens there were other volunteers who were near their email to help me juggle it all.

I'm hoping for a day tomorrow that involves rescuing Q-Tip.

A Happier Friday

I went to the shelter today to rescue one little grey kitten for a foster Mom. Some may think that's a waste of gas and time to rescue ONE little kitten, I but I won't tell the kitten you said that.

It's a bonus when I can call a foster parent from the shelter and say, "There's the cutest little fluffy guy here that you'd LOVE...." and before I finish my sentence, she says:

"SURE! I'll take him and one other one to keep him company." (Thank you, Susan!)

I feel like I won the lottery. I went in for ONE cat - came out with THREE:

Anybody who reads this blog knows that I'm not a newbie with regards to cat-related chaos on the road. But this little grey guy that I rescued today was SOOOO sad to be in the carrier, that he kept slamming his face against the cage. Drool was flying all over.

I decided to take safety into my own hands....literally: (Hope this makes you laugh!)

What I didn't say, is that this guy was soaking wet from pee. Of course, now *I* smell like pee too. This 12 week old kitten was SO happy to be in my arms, he sighed, started to purr and went completely limp. I just couldn't put him back in that carrier.

Happy Friday....Yes, indeed - it's a Happy Friday :)

An Update On "Andi"

I thought I'd post a follow up on a really special rescue that took place last week. If you didn't read about "Andi", you can read about it HERE.

The emails that came through after Andi's adoption have been thoughtful and inspiring. If anybody ever thought about passing up a cat because he or she is black, they should think again.

Andi was immediately at ease with her new Mommy and laid back quietly in her arms moments after her arrival. In fact, I was told Andi RAN to her at the front door! I swear, I think cats know when they're safe and in the arms of someone who loves and appreciates them.

From Andi's Mom:

"This is Andi's new Mom! I want to say Andi is the best kitty ever! First of I am pretty sure it was not Andi that was going to bother a baby, she spends most the day sleeping in one of my kitchen chairs enjoying the ceiling fan and breeze off the lake coming in the window. She comes in bed with me but at night and has yet to smother me, I am fine! I think it was the masses of fleas Andi had that were problematic for the baby...Andi sends her apologies for having fleas to her old family. but let me assure you now she has no fleas and is wonderful...for ME! She feels much better now and says thanks to Beth for making sure she got out and to lisa for allowing her to hitch a ride!! Thanks from me!! If you have another like her I'd give them a home as well...she is amazing! A BEAUTIFUL cat, great companion to me and very well behaved and sweet as the day is long!!"

All rescues are special, but this one was extra special to me because this little black cat had NO chance at all until a lady from New York came forward and offered her a home sight unseen.

Three women came together for this one little cat and made it happen.

It was (and is) a beautiful thing.

Brightening the Mood

I had planned on blogging yesterday, but after picking up my car from the shop yesterday, it was promptly "t-boned" by a huge truck in the parking lot of Wendy's. Needless to say, I was in no mood to write. I refuse to drive the "Weed Mobile" again, so am hoping the insurance kicks in a rental car.

I managed to rescue 7 kittens from the shelter today despite my bitter mood. Seven kittens = 3 empty cages at the shelter, which I'm hoping equals a little extra time for some poor soul who might otherwise be euthanized. Five of the kittens went to two new foster Mom's. I had to laugh when the foster Mom said, "I can take 2-3 kittens." When have I ever shown up with just 2 kittens, when a foster parent gave me the option of 3 kittens? Not bloody likely!

Some Before and After picture to lighten my mood:

Ozwald Before....

Ozwald AFTER! ( Doesn't he look spoiled?)

"Decland" Before....

Wow...Decland AFTER!

From my Inbox...an email that made me grin from ear to ear:

"My friend V.B. (Name has been edited) passed along your blog address and I HAD to contact you to give you and update on Dibley. You rescued him, along with his four siblings and his Mother, Cotton, in April 2009 when he was just one day old. He is now one of the absolute loves of my life...along with my husband and my other cat Lucy, of course...He just turned a year old and now I can’t remember life without him....Anyway, I just wanted to thank you SO much for the work you do, and, of course, for rescuing my Dibley....We adore him, and we’re so grateful for the role you played in bringing him to us."

This email wouldn't be complete without a picture of Dibley:

How cute is that guy? Of course, Dibley's rescue wouldn't be possible without his foster Mom stepping up to save his life and his Mom's life. In fact, none of these cats could be rescued without somebody opening their home, their wallet or clearing some space on their calendar to volunteer.

I'm feeling much better now. Bring on the Weed Mobile. :)

"Adults Only, Please"

When the request came in over the weekend to rescue a dozen ADULT cats who were already spayed and neutered, I was ecstatic! Really? In the Summer? Twelve ADULT cats....all at once???

I strolled into the shelter this morning feeling like a hero. I was certain that I could clean house and take all the spayed/neutered cats in the shelter. As I walked up and down the aisles, I quickly deflated as I realized there were many more than 12 adult cats that had already been spayed or neutered.

Damnit. I would have to choose. I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to choose today. If a rescue said, "I want ONE purple cat." It would be my luck that there would be two purple cats at the shelter.

Just once, I'd like to feel like I didn't leave somebody behind.

I didn't take all their pictures, but here are a few lucky ones that left the shelter today for a new life:

My friend Kathleen came with me - we also had kittens to rescue and ended up with a Mom cat and her 4 babies, along with another litter of 4 kittens!

If you're keeping track, we managed to rescue 21 little souls today.

I had car problems over the weekend and was stuck driving my son's "Weed Mobile" on the rescue. I honestly can't imagine what people thought of this middle-aged woman driving a car with a spoiler on the back and a marijuana leaf on the bumper. I could've rented a car, but I lost all pride when I thought of driving down the highway with 12+ cat carriers in the car. I played my son's rap crap on the CD to entertain the cats and pretended I was 19 again.

It was really a wonderful day. :)

Busy Times

It was never my intent to leave that sad video up the extra day. I've been incredibly busy and found myself on the phone until 10:30 last night dealing with rescue related emergencies, etc. It's amazing to me how quickly things can escalate. One minute it's "A cat needs to be moved from a Petsmart store because he/she is scared" and the next minute, "The cat needs to be moved NOW - he's panting and terrified."

Ahh...such as life with rescue.

I'm happy to report that when I went to the shelter this afternoon, some of the kittens that I had reported were to be euthanized on Wednesday were still alive and well. Apparently, Kim took them off the Euthanasia List - BlessHerLittleHeart. :) It was like a little mini-miracle to see their little faces looking at me. I had said goodbye to them on Tuesday night.

I met a new foster family today at the shelter and they happily took two sweet kittens home with them. They were understandably overwhelmed, but left with plans to foster more after the two they've taken were "launched" in a few weeks. I love hearing the words, "We need to tell our friends about this!!"

After I posted a video about a sad little dog a few days ago, I've had a wonderful outpouring of support to get the little girl out. I'm very happy to report that she's passed the assessment at the shelter and plans have been made for her rescue. I saw her at the shelter today - Man, is she CUTE!

Don't laugh. But I came home with a brown tabby kitten from the shelter. "Parker" was sitting alone in a cage and he's about 12 weeks old. The report is, that some guy showed up on a bicycle with the kitten on his shoulders and left him. Parker and my latest foster "Clementine" look a lot alike, so I'm hoping to pull a "Lucy Ricardo" and David won't notice the extra cat in the house.

I walked into The Land of Dirty Underwear (my son's room) to check on him and found the poor guy asleep in a pile of dirty clothes:

I shouldn't be surprised - it's probably the best spot in the bedroom.

Another cute pose of "Parker" with my son: (I promise, that's not MY hairy chest!)

I have a bunch of happy stories, updates and pictures to post. (Maybe this weekend!) Something to look forward to. Until then...Happy Friday from me and "Parker" :)

Sobering Up

All the cats and kittens in the following video died this morning due to overcrowding at the shelter. It's a small snippet of the number that actually died - this was just one room within the shelter.

I took this video yesterday while I was rescuing Andi. I was trying so hard to show this blissful moment of Andi being rescued, while the cats around her were sentenced to death. It was surreal and painful. I never really intended to post this, but have been encouraged by friends and friends in rescue to show it here.

If there's ever a video to show to people who don't spay or neuter their pets...this might be the one.

From one friend in rescue: "Post it... I just got off the phone with someone who wanted me to take kittens. She let her cat out on purpose because she thought it would be a good experience for her kids. Now she is having trouble placing the result of this experiment."



I hope I never post another video like this.

Andi's Rescue

It's always a happy day when I can rescue a black cat. I was contacted by a lady from Buffalo, NY that saw Andi on the shelter website. It's funny how a picture can speak volumes to some adopters and allow them to feel inspired to adopt a cat:

She was abandoned by her owners at the shelter because someone in her family had a baby. I still can't believe that there are misinformed people out there that think you have to get rid of your cat when you have a baby. Poor Andi came into the shelter loaded with fleas. No wonder they didn't want her around their baby. Why take care of the fleas when dumping the cat works just the same? I'm furious just typing that!

Fortunately for Andi, a wonderful rescue volunteer has offered to make the long drive to Buffalo to connect with the adopter to give Andi a forever home.

Thought you might like to see Andi's rescue from the shelter today. I hadn't really planned on posting it here, but was just going to send it directly to Andi's new Mom.

Heck...we all needed a smile :)

Tonight? Andi is at the vet's office getting vaccinated and ready to meet her new Mom "Sandy" tomorrow. I think Andi's new Mom will be pleasantly surprised with her new "baby". That little black cat strutted into the vet's office this morning like she owned the place - licked the clinic cat's head, sniffed at a poodle and jumped right up on the counter.

Thank you Lisa for making the long trek tomorrow...

... and thank you Sandy for giving me something to smile about today.

Comfortably Numb

I rescued EIGHT little souls today, so why do I feel so gloomy? I walked into the shelter this morning after the euthansia day. Usually, there are many empty cages and the shelter doesn't feel so full and sad. Sure, I'm fooling myself with this line of thinking , but "fooling myself" is often what it takes to go into that place.

I met a lovely young woman and her Mom this morning and she happily took "Skippy" home!

Skippy is one of those awesome redheads. The family fell in love with him the moment they saw him. He's got his neuter appointment tomorrow and he'll be a bonafide house cat from now on!

My noon appointment was with a young woman who wanted to adopt a kitten. She already had two cats and wanted a little guy. By the time she arrived at the shelter today, she had decided that she could be of more help as a foster home, (She was right!) and happily took home 3 tiny kittens today - one little pair and a single baby. Thanks to her generosity, she free'd up two more cages.

I'm not sure when my emotional wall started to drop today. It sure wasn't voluntary. Maybe it was when I walked in and saw this little guy in the dog holding area. (You can hear me start to cry, as I'm desperately trying to put the emotional wall back up. It didn't work very well)

Sucks. Sucks. Sucks.

After speaking with a foster Mom last night, I also brought home 4 young kittens - about 4 weeks old to hang out in my washroom. There was no way I could put these little dudes in The Land of Dirty Underwear. We may never find them again!

Sorry about the talking in this video (again). I need to figure out how to either shut my yapper, or put music with this:

The Mom of the two grey kittens in this video was killed after she was hit by a car. At least they have a chance at a happier life than their Mom had. Isn't that what we all want for our children?

On the way home from the shelter, I heard an old Pink Floyd song, "Comfortably Numb" and realized that maybe I had been Comfortably Numb for too long. Maybe I need to FEEL once in a while in order to understand why I do this kind of painful volunteer work.

I'm ready to go back into "Comfortably Numb" mode...yep...any time now...let the numbness begin....

Numbers

I can always tell what kind of rescue day it's been by what's in my car at the end of the day:

3 Tim Horton's Coffee Cups
1 Protein Bar Wrapper
1 Granola Bar Wrapper
1 Special K CRAP-fest bar wrapper

1 pink towel covered in cat poop

and...15 empty cat carriers

Yesterday, we managed to rescue TWENTY ONE little souls! Pretty much all the cats from the videos were rescued (still waiting on help for the black and white 4 week olds) It was really an exciting day for me.

I had been on the road with 20 cats for about 15 minutes when my cell phone rang:

"Beth, have you left the shelter yet? I have a foster home for FRANKLIN!"

If I wasn't afraid of flying cat poop, I would've made one of those dramatic screeeching u-turns in the middle of the highway. I drove back to the shelter and picked up Franklin. He had been at the shelter for more than 2 months and I couldn't let our big black panther sit in that cage one more minute.

Two different rescues were involved in getting these cats out of the shelter yesterday. It was a wonderful, exhausting day.

I came home to David saying that our Esso gas bill was $800.00 last month. ("Sowwy! I love you, sweetie") At least I didn't get a ticket for doing a commando U-turn in the middle of the highway to get Franklin.

More Videos From Yesterday

No shelter rescue today, but I'm positively exhausted. I've been up working on rescue-related stuff since 7 a.m and am SO happy that I have some videos to speak for me and the cats, because I just don't have the energy tonight.

In this first video, I was overwhelmed by the little tabbies at the end and start to cry. Sorry for the abrupt ending on it...


Towards the end of this next video, my FAVOURITE little girl named "Tinkerbelle" is in it. I don't think I can walk away from her again. I love this kitten and pray somebody helps me rescue her.



How on earth does this Mom remain so peaceful in the midst of chaos? I don't know is this Mom will survive the euthanasia day tomorrow...


I'll be at the shelter doing a rescue tomorrow. Some of the cats from these videos won't be alive when I arrive there in the morning.

But thanks to many of you - some will receive a chance at a new, loving life - and that's why I keep doing what I'm doing.

A Full Day

I really enjoy these kind of rescue days. It wasn't because I took an enormous number of cats from the shelter, but I was able to participate in a full gambit of rescue that I enjoy:

1. Rescued "Dickens" who had been at the shelter the longest. (3 months!)

2. Contacted a rescue while at the shelter to tell them about a Cornish Rex that had arrived. "Do you want to rescue him?" "YES, bring him, along with Dickens!"

3. Met a WONDERFUL adopter for "Emily" the butterball girl and it was love at first site - a forever home for Emily! Yay!

4. Called a foster Mom while at the shelter and asked (begged) her to take a 16 week black kitten. "Sure, Beth! We can take him!"

5. Rescued "Renee" a white Persian and met the adopters at a Tim Horton's parking lot...lovely people and they LOVED Renee!

All this took place from 10 am - 2 pm. I was home in time to empty the dishwasher, answer emails, syringe feed a sick foster kitten, scoop poop and write in this blog.

While I was taking video at the shelter today, it occurred to me why videos of this nature have sad music playing. It's not just for dramatic effect - believe me! It's to drown out the sound of the person's voice in the background. Holy God, why did I feel the need to talk in this videos?

After 3 months, Dickens is ready to go in this video:


The staff at the shelter must think I'm such a dimwit, because I talk to ALL the cats as I walk up and down the aisles. I can't touch all of them for many reasons, but I can certainly talk to them.

I'm going to post a few videos that I took today over the next day or two to give you an idea on what I see when I go into the shelter. I've resisted the urge to go from cat room, to cat room taking video, so you're really only seeing a tenth of what's really there:


I'm finding it hard to relive these videos again. When I leave the shelter, I'm usually thinking about 1 or 2 cats that have left an imprint on my heart. But these videos make me think about ALL the cats and I'm finding it very difficult to watch.

Tonight, I'm going to think about the cats that I *DID* get out and hope that the videos over the next few days inspire some of you to help, and those of you who DO help know what good work you're doing.

Keeping a Stiff Upper Lip

I was going to put out an urgent plea today for my newest favourite girl at the shelter named "Emily":
I'm praying that an urgent plea won't be necessary. I received an email and subsequent phone call from a WONDERFUL sounding couple who are interested in adopting my butterball Emily! I'm supposed to meet her at the shelter tomorrow and am crossing my fingers that this adoption goes through. Emily is one of those special, sweet cats that you can tell was really loved at one point in her life. I don't know why she is there, but she sure needs to be the love of somebody's life.

This could be her last night in a shelter cage!

Last week I worked on an adoption for a very cute cat named "Andrew":

How cute is this guy? Andrew has a wonderful little personality and was quickly scooped up by a really nice young woman. She sent me this picture of Andrew yesterday:
Doesn't he look like a pampered spoiled boy now? Love it! Love it!

We recently rescued a pretty little girl named Shiraz:Her foster Daddy sent me an awesome "after" picture of Shiraz:

What an incredible transformation...*happy sigh*

I think I'm going to try taking a video at the shelter tomorrow. The vet that took a bunch of Moms and kittens a few weeks ago ended up taking 40 Moms and kittens from ANOTHER shelter. I guess they needed help too, but I counted on her to come and help the cats from my shelter. Tomorrow is a euthanasia day, and it's left me feeling very sad and desperate for the faces I won't see tomorrow when I arrive.

I need some more "After" pictures of spoiled cats. I feel like they're few and far between right now.

Principles Before Personalities

I arrived at the shelter today with a guest volunteer, Jenn, who wanted to see what the shelter was really like. She had adopted 4 cats over the past 5 years (one passed away and the other was adopted by her brother).

Each cat came from this shelter.

The chat was lively on the way to the shelter, but disturbingly quiet on the way back. I knew what she was thinking: It's overwhelming and it hurts.

Jenn is a volunteer driver for the rescue - an insanely important volunteer job, albeit unglamorous. I hope after she went to the shelter today, she'll realize how important EVERY volunteer job is when it comes to rescuing these cats.

We rescued these two little guys (pictured above) + one for a new foster Mom. I brought the threesome home to The Land of Dirty Underwear until the new foster Mom was off work. Oh, how I *LOVE* to deliver kittens to a new foster Mom! It's better than Christmas! When we met at the Tim Horton's parking lot (where else?) her excitement was contagious. She didn't mind the add-on black and white kitten (thank you! thank you!) and was beside herself with getting them home and playing with these little guys. The weird part was - she had purchased THREE food dishes when she thought she was only getting two kittens! (*goosebumps*)

If this foster Mom hadn't stepped up to the plate and offered to help these three kittens - they would be dead this morning. Such a sobering thought.

I found myself smiling all the way back home.

Yesterday, was the annual general meeting for our rescue. I'm always taken back by these events due to the diversity of the people in attendance. I'm not talking about racial diversity. I'm talking about people in general from ALL walks of life, education levels, incomes, religions and different pasts, presents and futures coming together for ONE common cause. We spent a few hours on a beautiful Sunday afternoon together and talked about rescue. Our Rescue.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this blog post tonight. Every once in a while, I become very aware of how different we all are. The uncommon ways we live our lives. How dissimilar our personalities are; the way we communicate with each other. I work with people in the rescue who are as young as 18 years old to retirement years.

I'm doing a crummy job expressing myself tonight. I keep pushing the delete button. I think I'll just use the title of this blog post to say it all for me....and I'm so grateful for all of you.

Happy Days Are Here Again!

I must've looked at the clock twenty times today waiting for it to be time to go to the shelter. The call came in yesterday: "I'll take the Tortie Mom and her kittens!

Many hugs to Debbie who reunited this little family and saved their lives. I'm new with uploading movies, but wanted to document their rescue - this was the first time the Mom had seen her two orange kittens in about a week:

It was wonderful to see this little family together again. I took my finger off the "record" button too early....she gave that little orange guy quite the wash!

Also rescued today:

I remember when this sweet little Mom came into the shelter. She was wearing a pink collar and a bell. She sat up in her cage looking so expectant that her family would be there any moment to pick her up. Heartbreaking!

Also rescued was little Gumbi and his new best friend "Jake":

I had to laugh because Jake and Gumbi had never met each other, but acted like they were best friends when I put them in the same carrier. Kittens!

Little Shiaz was also rescued today: It's a terrible picture of a beautiful little girl. She came into the shelter spayed and declawed. I can't imagine why anyone would want to part with this sweet fluffy girl.

As I type this post, another foster Mom is on her way out to the shelter to rescue "somebody". I'm not sure who she'll take yet. :) Also, a preapproved adopter is going to arrive this evening to take home "Andrew" another sweet tabby/BengalX guy.

I was very teary eyed as I packed up the Tortie Mom and her kittens for rescue. The video only showed part of this rescue. (One of these days I'll get proficient at taking videos to really show a rescue!) I received so many emails of support to rescue this little family. Even when people can't physically help the cats, it's really reassuring to receive these kind of emails. It's what keeps me going.

That little Tortie Mom didn't know how many people were pulling for her. But I did. Thank you all for caring the way you have.

Rainy Days and Thursdays

Like everybody else in the world, I get the blues from time to time. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the argument I had with my 19 year old son, maybe I was just due for a crummy day.

This afternoon I had to tell a new foster Mom that one of her kittens had passed away. It wasn't her fault, it wasn't anybody's fault. It was just one of those awful things. I've always said that "you know when you're a real rescuer when your foster cat passes away." That seems so blase' right now. I wonder how many times I've said that to a grieving foster parent? It sure doesn't sound very comforting now that I type it out. I'm so grateful to this foster parent for loving this kitten the way she has. The poor little thing had NO chance at the shelter. At least he died with somebody trying to save his life and with people who will grieve for him now.

I took some pictures of my new tabby girl that I named "Clementine". Here's Clementine eating from the dog food bowl:

She's fearless! My other foster guy "Owen" has a HUGE scratch down his nose from them wrestling. "Clementine" almost sounds too cute for this mini-terrorist:

I had a huge smile today when I received some "After" pictures of the little 3 week old guys I rescued last night. To refresh your memory, here's the Before picture:

Here's the picture after a mini-bath, bottle, and lots of love:

Seriously....I could kiss those guys until tomorrow!!!

As usual, blogging does the trick and I'm feeling far better than when I started to write this post. I have so many blessings in my life, but am imperfect enough to not realize it half the time.

I'm not going to say what it is....but I have a VERY special blog post tomorrow....Stay tuned!

O' Weary Me

It's almost 10 pm as I write this blog post. I've been on the road most of the day today doing only good things that I love to do. How many people can say that?

I'm exhausted tonight, so will be brief.

I met a new foster Dad at the shelter tonight. Tim has an older kitten named Jello-O and he was looking for a running buddy to keep Jello happy while he works. As usual, it's an emotional search. Sometimes I think that people hope I'm exaggerating about the number of cats at the shelter, or their fate. It's very overwhelming when you go there this time of year.

Tim settled on TWO terrorists that should keep Jell-O amused while he's at work:

These guys look like they LOVE to party! They're 12 weeks old and I'm guessing that as I type this post, haven't stopped running at Tim's place. :)

I couldn't help but notice this sad looking little pair when I came in tonight:

The animal control officer wanted to euthanize them right away because they didn't have a Mom and were only 3 weeks old. I called one of our awesome foster homes while I was still at the shelter. Fortunately, this foster Mom had called me just yesterday and told me she was ready to foster some orphans. Yeee-hah! I drove them into the city tonight and they're being loved, and fed tonight. (Thank you Lisa for taking them!)

I couldn't resist taking the Tortie Mom and putting two of her babies with her. She was so happy!!!! The babies knew who she was right away and she started feverishly grooming them. I asked Kim to rotate the other two babies tomorrow so they can all have some time with Mom.

SO MANY sweet nursing Moms and the shelter right now. :(

It took me 2 hours to get to the shelter tonight in torrential rain and rush hour. I stopped at a frickin' Taco Bell (*puke*) to grab something in the drive-thru, bit into the taco, grease poured down my new shirt. I'm sure I'll have a big zit on my chin from the grease in the morning.

But it was worth it. Four more cats got out tonight and I couldn't be happier.

Juggling and a Tabby Fix

I went back to the shelter today to merely do some paperwork that I had promised would be done yesterday, but I ran out of time. It was a lovely day and the drive out there seemed particularly inviting on a sunny, warm afternoon.

My plan was to sign the paperwork for the rescues last week, visit with Kim and leave. No sense in torturing myself by going back to the cat area, right? I don't know why I make deals like that with myself. I always come out feeling like a big fat loser.

Not only did I go back into the cat area, but I left with a foster cat for myself!! What was I thinking? I rescued a perfect little 16 week old brown tabby female. Generally, my gang doesn't do well with a female but she looked so cute sitting in her cage...well, dammit...I couldn't leave her there!

She's currently in The Land of Dirty Underwear, and it's been reported that she "gives kisses" and snuggles. "Awwww..." At this point, she's probably looking around my son's room and thinking, "Holy crap...from the frying pan, into the fire!"

I left my camera at the shelter today, and wanted to take some pictures while I was there.

I spent some time with the Tortie Mom who had been separated from her kittens. The maternity cages are all full, so we can't reunite the family. I'm worried that the shelter is going to euthanize Mom because "they're already separated". Those kittens are her ticket out of the shelter.

There's a cat named "Dickens" who has been at the shelter a long time - since mid-March. He's currently in a maternity cage in order to give the poor guy some space. If I could get somebody to foster him, we could move the Mom and kittens into his cage TOGETHER.

Dickens is such a nice young boy. He needs to get out of that shelter - fast. It would be a horrific thing if he was euthanized after spending 3 months in a cage.

I need a name for my little Tabby girl. Clementine? Camille? For now, she's just "the baby". What a sweet, feminine little face!

My name is "Beth"....but for today, my name is W-I-M-P. I don't think David will notice another tabby running around, will he?