Tag Archives: adopt

Cat at Petsmart Desperate for Attention

I bought cat litter this morning at Petsmart and couldn’t help but check out the cats in their adoption center. I had no intention of adopting a cat today but I feel bad that they are stuck in small cages so I thought they might like a little attention. I could not have imagined how desperate one of the cats there was for that attention.

She is an 11-month-old female and she really needs a home. The one-year-old male next to her was also needing attention but he was not as obvious about it.

This cat is at the North Clearwater, Florida location. If anyone is in the area and is looking for a pet, I think she would be a great choice. If you know someone in the Tampa Bay area that might be interested, please share.

Photo Friday: Abbey and Alex

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Today I want to do something a little different and post a photo from the past, well before Chris was born. I actually took this picture on my birthday, July 9, 2005.

This was the first picture I could find of our two cats, Abbey and Alex, so I think we had just adopted them. Back then Abbey was called Stirling and Alex was called Sloan. We actually adopted Alex but we couldn’t take him and leave his sister behind so we took her too, which was an excellent decision. While we had Alex out of the cage at the PetSmart shelter, Abbey pooped and left it unburied. It was the stinkiest poop we ever smelled and it seemed to remain that stinky throughout her life. Also, her habit of not burying her stinky poops remained too.

Here is Abbey trying to figure out how to get at the fish while Alex looks on.

Black Cat Day

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Today is Black Cat Day and as I write this, my black cat, Puck, is on my lap being very “kneedy.” We celebrate black cats today because they need our help. They are often overlooked at shelters because of their color or because people associate them with evil or bad luck.

After adopting two black cats, I can assure you that is nonsense. Since having Puck, and before him, Flash, most of my “bad luck” was a result of my own stupidity. Both of our black cat’s have been very sweet, and a little shy too, but they were, and are, well-behaved and wonderful to have around.

If we didn’t adopt Puck, Chris would not have a best friend.

If you are looking to adopt a cat, today would be a great day to go to your local animal shelter and give a loving black cat a good home.

Meet Floki, Our Newest Addition

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I felt a little bad Sunday after we went up to my sister-in-law’s vet’s office to look at kittens that needed a home and then left without one (If you didn’t read my last post you can find it here). Rose felt bad too and called her sister and asked about seeing the second male Siamese kitten.

The two cats were being fostered and Felice chose the one she thought was more friendly and brought that one in to be fixed. Rose wanted to see the other one so the foster parent agreed to meet us with the other kitten at the animal hospital, where the first kitten was still staying,

When she arrived, Felice put a ribbon around the neck of the fixed cat so we wouldn’t confuse them and then took both kittens out. The big gold cat was there to greet us again and was a little bit like Baby Huey.

After checking out both kittens, Rose came to realize that the first kitten we saw was the better choice and he was not sickly like she first thought. It was like she was seeing him for the first time and was convinced he was the one, so we put him in the carrier and headed home after briefly considering taking his brother too. Of course, we knew we were pushing the limit with four cats, especially since we are only allowed two.

On the way out we had to pass by this scene, which was very hard to do.
Kittens in cage

We were happy to hear that this girl’s potential adopter is not as bad as we thought. While she will be an outside cat, we were told that she will be living on a farm with other outside cats that are well taken care of. Apparently, there is a part of the barn that is set up for them. I sometimes think Frankie might be happier living in a place like that where he can come and go as he pleases. I then see him lying upside-down on our bed and I think maybe not.

The kitten cried almost all the way home, and it was a long trip. I heard Siamese cats are very vocal and this confirms it.

I thought introducing a kitten would be less stressful for our cats because kittens are not a threat. I noticed when we introduced Puck, a kitten, Chris was happy to have him but when we got Frankie, an adult cat, Chris was not happy about that.

This time Chris and Puck did a little growling at the kitten but were mostly tolerant. Frankie, however, wanted the kitten gone. He spent his time hissing at him and trying to whack him. Fortunately, the kitten was small enough to get into places where Frankie couldn’t reach him.

Floki and Chris

I wanted to tell the story in one post but preparing the pictures and videos is time-consuming, and I have very little spare time these days. I will finish this tomorrow, hopefully. I will say that as I write this, Frankie is mostly over being mean to the kitten but he is still jealous and needs attention.

We Came, We Saw, We Left With No Kitten

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Yesterday, we went to visit my sister-in-law and her husband, Felice and Jeff, for the fourth of July, even though it was the third. After we settled in for a bit and met the little gold kitten that they decided to adopt, we took a short ride to the vet’s office where Felice works. That is where the two cats were that needed a home.

We first went to an examination room that held the female kitten that needed a home. Her two brothers were in there also and all three of them were very cute and playful. The female had unique markings. She had sprinkles of gold but she wasn’t technically a Calico or Tortie. I don’t know exactly how that works but Felice says in both cases they have black patches, which this kitten doesn’t have. Wikipedia does mention a “Tortie-Tabby” or “Torbie” which is what this kitten might be.

Is she a “Torbie?”

Next we visited the Siamese kitten. This one was a bit shy at first but warmed up very quickly and had a nice loud purr. Rose was a bit disappointed in him for some reason. She said he looked sickly and she noticed he wasn’t the same kitten that she saw in the photograph. I didn’t think he was sickly. In fact, he seemed somewhat energetic.

I didn’t know this then but there were actually two Siamese kittens that needed a home. They were brothers that were left in a carrier at Wal-Mart on Memorial Day when they were about six weeks old. Also in the carrier were three other kittens from a different litter that were about eight weeks old. Felice picked the one that seemed the friendliest and brought it to her work to have him fixed, just in case we decided to take him home.

After I shot the above video, we put the kitten on a table where a very overweight gold cat with bent whiskers was hanging out looking for attention.

This cat was extremely friendly and we considered adopting him but Felice said he likes kittens but he does not get along with adult cats. We joked that he eats them, which was not very nice (even though we laughed).

We decided to think about it and we went back to Felice’s house and talked while her husband, Jeff, made his famous chicken barbecue.

While we were waiting, the gold kitten was out playing and he really seemed to take to me. I was petting his belly and he was “fighting” my hand. He then lied on my lap and purred and purred and purred. I was thinking about what a couple of commentators said on my last post. They said “let the kitten choose you,” or something similar. It seemed this kitten was choosing us but Felice and Jeff already chose to adopt him and wouldn’t give him up. In truth, I couldn’t blame them.

Rose decided she didn’t want to settle for a kitten she wasn’t sure about and I suggested that we go back and look at them both one more time. It was agreed that we would do that but when it was time to go, Rose’s mom was not feeling good and wanted to go home right away so she could “take a pill.” So that was the end of that, but we did pay the $60 for the kitten’s vet bill. it was the least we could do for leaving without a kitten.

If you have made it this far, I will tell you there is more to this story, so check back again soon.

The Kitten Dilema

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I recently wrote about a kitten that my sister-in-law, Felice, was raising and would need a home soon (read here). We decided we would meet the kitten on Sunday (today) and make the decision then. At the time I did not have pictures of the kitten but Felice sent a few the other day.

A day or two after we heard about the gold kitten, Felice informed us of another kitten that needed rescue. This was a female that was being taken care of at the vet’s office where Felice works. Her litter-mates have a home to go to when they are old enough and she also had someone interested in adopting her but, if I understood it correctly, that person plans on keeping her outside, perhaps as a mouser. I don’t know.

Now it gets even more complicated. a couple days after we find out about the girl kitten, we also find out that Felice and her husband decided to keep the gold cat. That is a good thing because even though they have about 100 cats, give or take, they lack a gold cat.

You would think that would simplify things but wait… Felice knows someone who is fostering a male Siamese kitten that needs a home.

Both of these kittens will be together for us to see when we visit Felice later today. It will be difficult for us because we don’t even know if we are ready for a fourth kitten and now we will be forced to reject one or more kittens. This kitten business is tough.

A New Fourth Kitty?

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My sister-in-law is at it again. She has been busy saving the lives of more kittens and still has one gold kitten that will need a home soon. Rose has been hinting that she wants to adopt him but emotional decisions do not always end well. Let’s consider the pros and cons, starting with the cons:

We are already over our two cat limit.
Raising cats the healthy way is expensive.
We already have three boys. Perhaps a girl is needed.
Our dream of traveling after retirement could be more difficult.
We would be dangerously close to entering the Crazy Cat Lady/Man Zone.

Now for the pros:

Chris is a very touchy-feely cat. He might like having someone else to nap with.
Cats can tolerate a new kitten better than a new adult cat.
A new kitten might motivate me to start making my own cat food.
We would be helping a kitten in need.
Retirement is still more than 10 years away, 20 if they keep raising the retirement age.
Kittens are super cute.

I do not yet have a picture of the kitten but I snagged this picture off of Pixabay. It is what I imagine he looks like.

Photo by Rudy and Peter Skitterians, Skitterphoto on Pixabay.

So what do you think? Any suggestions?

On another note, I actually won the Tuesday Teaser on One Spoiled Cat and get to display this badge.

I had a long streak of missing the Teaser but catching the Tell-All the next day.

Maybe Some Cats Shouldn’t be “Rescued”

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If you have ever looked for a cat to adopt on Petfinder or the website of your local shelter, you may have noticed that a fair amount of them have been ear-tipped. If you don’t know what that is, when a stray or feral cat is captured and fixed, the vet will remove the tip of one ear or put a notch in one ear to show that the cat has already been fixed.

Ear “tipping” or “notching” is usually done for the Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) programs but sometimes a well-meaning person will trap a cat that is friendly to humans and not release it but put it up for adoption. I believe that is what happened to Frankie, although we know nothing about his history. We do know he has a notch in his ear indicating he was probably captured as a feral, perhaps at a young age.

We know the history of Puck, who was a bottle-fed kitten. Puck will go outside if given the opportunity but he gets nervous easy and then wants to go back inside.

I found Chris in the shelter when he was around five months old. I know he came from another shelter but I don’t know his history before that. I do know Chris loves going outside but he also stays close to home.

Frankie is not like either one of them. He is constantly crying at the door to go out and, while he is not as good about slipping out the door as Chris is, he will get past me sometimes. When that happens, he immediately starts exploring the neighborhood. If I get close enough to catch him, he runs or he finds a car to hide under.

When I put a harness on Frankie and walk him, he tends to travel in one direction. I know most cats have a territory that is smaller than the area that Frankie takes me through. I usually have to coax him to travel in a direction toward home instead of away. The last few outings I stayed out with him a long time to see if he would eventually make his way back home. He didn’t.

I can’t help but wonder if he would ever want to come home if he escaped and I lost track of him. He might also travel too far and get lost. Frankie has too much of a wild cat in him and I wonder if he wouldn’t have been happier if he was allowed to stay outside in a TNR colony.

Something happened Tuesday night that showed just how wild Frankie still is. We ordered take-out from a nearby Italian restaurant. When the driver arrived, I shut the slider between the house and Florida room, locking the cats in the house and allowing me to open the door without worrying about Frankie or Chris running out.

Unknown to me, Frankie was in the Florida room with me and ran outside when I opened the door. It was dark outside and I had no shoes on. Our grass is loaded with little stickers called sand spurs. They are painful to step on so I quickly paid the delivery driver and ran inside to get my shoes. When I got out, the driver had followed Frankie behind the house to our left and managed to herd him back toward me. Frankie ran right up to our door and I thought the driver scared him enough to want to go back inside but that was not the case.

He continued around to the other side of our house and ran under Rose’s car. The two of us looked for him under the car but it was too dark so I pulled my little key-chain flashlight out of my pocket and looked under our vehicles. He was not there. That is when the driver noticed him near the front door of the house to our right.

I looked over in that direction and saw him standing there with something hanging from his mouth. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what I was seeing and then said, “Oh my God! He has a rabbit!”

I tried to grab Frankie and get him to release his catch but he eluded me and ended up back under Rose’s car. The two of us worked at him from opposite sides of the car, at which point he let go of the bunny and crawled out from under the car. That was when I grabbed Frankie and picked him up while the driver grabbed the rabbit and checked out his injuries.

He seemed uninjured except for a small gash on the back of his neck but he was having trouble breathing. The driver tried to stroke his neck to stimulate breathing but it was soon too late for the rabbit.

After that incident, on Friday, Rose decided to take Frankie for a walk. I hurt my back Thanksgiving morning and was not up to the task so Rose decided that Frankie needed to get out more. She was out with him for a long time and when she returned she said “Never again!” Frankie managed to force his way out of the harness and led her on a chase around the neighborhood.

Those incidents made me wonder whether Frankie’s cushy lifestyle in our home is really what’s best for him. Don’t worry. I’m not going to release Frankie into the wild. In fact, I am watching him now lying upside-down on a soft blanket on the sofa.

He seems to enjoy the good life as much as the wild life but I can’t help wonder how many other cats have been “rescued” that may have been better off left alone. I also wonder how many cats were never adopted because a “wild” cat was adopted in their place. What do you think? Is it wrong to leave a feral outside even if it is friendly towards humans?

Miss Luis the Kitten’s Last Day Before Adoption

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Back on the 26th of June, Rose and I were involved in rescuing a newborn kitten (read here if you missed it). We brought her to my sister-in-law, Felice, who is an experienced kitten rescuer. She worked hard to keep the kitten alive and now she is doing well.

Rose said she wanted to name the kitten Luis, if it was a boy, after her maintenence supervisor who found the kitten and called Rose for help. It was a girl and she ended up with the Name Lulu (see here and here) but that didn’t stick so now she is called Miss Luis, which we pronounce “Louie.”

We were at Felice’s house on Saturday to celebrate the birthday of Rose and Felice’s mother. While I was there I was able to get a few good pictures of Miss Luis along with two male kittens that Felice took in shortly after Miss Luis arrived.

Miss Luis

Makeshift kitten sanctuary.

The three kittens had fun playing together for awhile and then one fell asleep on the couch while Miss Luis hid behind the pillows. The third cat disappeared into the bathroom where he napped in a carrier that has become their bedroom.

Miss Luis eventually fell asleep with one of the boy kittens.

Later, the third kitten came out and joined Miss Luis in some play while his brother tried to nap.

Of course there are more than kittens at Felice’s house and I got plenty of attention from some of the locals.

The next day, Miss Luis went to her new home. A man adopted her so another female kitten he recently adopted could have company. I was told she cried all the way to her new home but then quickly became friends with resident kitten.

A Gift Arrives

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We adopted Chris in late 2009 from a shelter named Sav-R-Cats in Surfside, South Carolina (near Myrtle Beach). I met Chris while I was volunteering for Sav-R-Cats and worked with Shirley and Linda who are not only still there, but still keep up with Chris and his shenanigans. They decided to send Chris, Frankie and Puck a gift which arrived the other day.

Frankie and Puck were interested right away, Chris was off doing his own thing and was not aware something new was in the house. As soon as I opened it, the two of them were inspecting the contents.

Soon Chris sensed something was up and was there in an instant to lend a paw in the inspection process.

Even the box itself was thoroughly checked out.

Inside the box were some lovely, handmade blankets, two with a gold cat and one with a black cat. One each for Chris, Frankie and Puck.

But there was something else in the box.

The blankets were already a great gift but there were also toys in the box.

Some of the toys were labeled “Loony Loops” and “Springs.” There was a toy called a “Hexbug,” which looked interesting but I decided to save that for later. The first one I took out was a spring which Chris immediately started chasing around the house.

They loved the blankets too.

There was also an envelope.Inside was a nice card and note from Shirley, Linda and the cats at the shelter.

Sadly, many of the cats on the note were Chris’s shelter mates in 2009 and are still there. There is Ace, Ralph, Jack, Jerry and Yoda, Cole, Carter, Sarah and Alinda. I took Pictures back then for Petfinder and remember some of those names, like Jerry and Yoda.

Yoda and Jerry at Sav-r-Cats, dated October 3, 2009.

These two cats are best friends and must be adopted together, which may have made it more difficult for them. They have lived a good part of their lives in a shelter (Jerry since 2006) and could possibly die there without ever knowing a good home. Of course, they are treated well at the shelter but I would love to see these two and the other “old timers” find a loving home to live out their remaining days.

Another cat that I remember on the card is Sarah. It seems the males are more likely to be long-timers at a shelter but not always.

Sarah, dated November 11, 2009

There is also Jack, who reminds me of our departed cat Tigger.

Jack, photo taken October 3, 2009.

Not on the card is Hope, who I photographed in early 2010.

Hope, dated February 11, 2010.

If anyone lives near Myrtle Beach, or know someone who does, and would like to help a cat or two that have been in a shelter too long, please contact Sav-R.Cats.com or check out their Petfinder page.

Update: It turns out that Hope was adopted so that is good news.

Bad Cat Chris

The Baddest Cat You'll Ever Love