Like Mother, Like Daughter?

Anna Marie

Betty Sue

Like mother, like daughter – so says the old proverb.  But when we first met Anna Marie and her daughter Betty Sue, nothing could be further from the truth.  Oh, yes, those beautiful emerald green eyes were the same.  No doubting the genetics there.  And perhaps the interesting facial markings – Anna Marie’s ‘lipstick’ and Betty Sue’s freckled nose. But you couldn’t find two more different personalities.

Anna Marie was a tiny little girl who seemed even tinier because she had lost half of her fur to a flea bite allergy.  She came right to the front of the cage and begged for attention.  She loved to play with a wand toy and would run and jump as long as you waved a toy around.  If you sat with her, she would walk right into your lap.  She loved being petted and having her tummy gently scratched.

Betty Sue was a pleasantly  plump.  She hid in the small center litter box compartment of their cage and volunteers had to drag her out to be socialized.  She would let us hold her, in fact wanted to be held close and protected. But if you put her down, she would hide in the corner. She never purred and was afraid of toys.

These girls have been with us for a long time – since early January.  They were pretty sick with upper respiratory virus, but didn’t get a foster, so they spent several weeks in a cage in isolation.  Now, back in the Cat Adoption Center, they are living in a colony room with several other cats.

On my last visit to the colony room, during the hailstorm last week in fact, I walked in the door and lo and behold, here comes Betty Sue to greet me!  She rolled and rolled around the floor, happy as can be, and just loved having her tummy rubbed.  Then she climbed up on some crates in the room and rolled around and flirted some more.  I was finally seeing the real Betty Sue, the real daughter of happy go lucky Anna Marie!

Betty Sue is still not quite sure 100% of the time that her world is okay.  A loud noise, even a laugh, sometimes scares her.  But she has come such a long way over these past three months – and three months is long enough for cats to be in a shelter.  It’s time for these girls to go home.  Obviously we would love to see them go home together.  But they would probably do okay apart, especially Anna Marie.  I think Betty Sue would continue to blossom in a quiet, adults only home with plenty of love even if she were alone.  With her mom by her side, it would be a purrrrfect home.

Goodnight My Sunny Boy

The best kitty tummy in the world!

The happiest, most handsome, most cuddly orange tabby with the best kitty tummy in the whole wide world crossed the Rainbow Bridge Wednesday afternoon.  My good ol’ boy Sunny is gone and my heart aches and my house is empty in spite of four other cats living in it.

His big rumbling purr was so loud you could hear him in the next room.  Nobody is nudging my hands as I type or plopping down for a tummy rub between the keyboard and the screen. The basket on the filing cabinet beside my desk is empty tonight.  No sighs of contentment, no snoring.

Wireless Sunny

But no fear either, no worry about another hideous nose bleed.  He is at peace.  Mother Nature can be very cruel, and she tried her best with Sunny.  After a lifetime of autoimmune problems, she thought she’d try a tumor in his sinus.  But my wonderful vet stopped her ultimate cruelty with a syringe full of pink liquid.

Sunny came home with me the first year I was volunteering at the ARL, in March 1999.  He was about 18 months old and he had pneumonia.  And in those days, cats with even mild upper respiratory disease weren’t treated.  There was no sick room and no foster program.  So Sunny went out the back door with me.  My vet  wanted him in for fluids, a temperature check and an antibiotic injection every day for ten days. So every night after work Sunny went in the carrier for the ride to the vet, and in the waiting room he sat patiently on my lap, soaking up all the petting I could give him.  He never got upset with the temperature taking or the needles.  Mind you – he was a strong unneutered tom in the prime of his life!

Two years later he almost died from an autoimmune form of inflammatory bowel disease.  Luckily, after about a year the IBD settled down and he was able to eat regular food and go about being a normal cat.

But after several years of wellness, the autoimmune problems struck again.  This time with stomatitis.  Although the exact cause is unknown, it is thought that some cats may have a hypersensitivity or allergic reaction to bacterial plaque. This results in a disease called lymphocytic-plasmacytic gingivitis stomatitis (LPGS), which affects the entire mouth and can be very painful.  He had all of his top teeth removed, the recommended treatment, and the disease backed off, but only for about six months. It returned with a vengence.

For the past 2-1/2 years he has been maintained on Depo-Medrol and Convenia injections, supplemented with oral antibiotics. While it may sound like I tortured him with medication, you would never have known it if you had met him. He took everything like a champ, never once gave me a hard time. It was as if he understood and he loved me unconditionally.  And he was happy.  He played and purred and made happy paws on my stomach and chest every chance he got.  He loved dinner time, and could be downright athletic over chasing treats.

Sunny welcomed every new cat, foster or permanent, into my home.  He washed Mojo’s face and head for him every single day until he got the stomatitis.  Mojo would walk over to him, put his head down and wait, and he was never disappointed. Sunny lulled me to sleep nearly every night making happy paws on my chest.  I hope wherever he is tonight, someone is giving him all the tummy rubs he wants because he certainly deserves it.

Goodnight my Sunny Boy.

Friskie Finds Her Special Human

Remember Friskie the Worrywart?  Friskie who liked to get in her fostermom’s microwave and dishwasher?  Well, Friskie has a whole new set of appliances to explore tonight.  She has a home!

Definitely one of our longer term residents, Friskie came to the shelter way back in June, 2009.  When all the activity in the shelter proved to be too much for her, she was lucky enough to get a foster home in December, 2009.   So it’s a bittersweet day for Friskie’s foster mom, but she knows Friskie is where she needs to be.

Friskie’s new human has experience with kitties like Friskie who is very much like Sprite the Kerfluffled Kitty I wrote about just a couple weeks ago.  Like Sprite, Friskie doesn’t always know how to accept or give affection and she gets all kerfluffled.  Her new human called after they got home tonight and reported that Friskie was just as happy as could be – and she was in love with Friskie.  LOL – just wait until she tries to clean her kitchen!

Temple’s Nightmare

You see silly videos on the web or TV of animals who get their heads stuck in something they are exploring – a trash can, a small box or bag.

But when Temple put his head in a can and got stuck, it definitely wasn’t funny. He was homeless and hungry which is why his head was in the can in the first place. Can you imagine his suffering? And his terror?  He couldn’t eat or drink or see.  He was alone and homeless and cold. The can rim was cutting his neck and throat and his wounds were infected.  He was emaciated and dehydrated.  If someone hadn’t found him and brought him to us, he would have died a horrible death.

When he was brought to the shelter, he was so frightened that when techs finally were able to cut the can off his neck, he wouldn’t let anyone touch him until the next day.  Now, all Temple wants is to be touched and petted and loved.  It’s almost as if he now realizes that those same hands saved his life.

Temple spent several weeks in the shelter hospital getting antibiotics and regaining his strength before coming to the adoption center.  The medical staff cleaned his wounds every day to make sure they healed properly.  His deep scars attest to how close he came to suffering mortal wounds.  And his little body attests to his starvation.  He has put on some weight, but is still only about 6-1/2 lbs.  You can see and feel every bone in his body. What should be a soft shiny black coat is covered with dandruff because of the dehydration and poor nutrition.

Temple will recover physically from his ordeal, but it’s going to take a loving owner to help him recover emotionally. He’s still very frightened. He struggles a bit when we pick him up because he doesn’t know what we’re going to do with him. When we take him into the playroom, he cries continuously unless we pet him and comfort him. He loves you to pet his thin little body and he doesn’t even mind having his neck touched gently. If you sit in the floor, he will snuggle up against you and you can bring him into your lap.

At the same time, Temple is a gutsy little guy.  He’s interested in everything going on around him and when he found a pinch of catnip, he forgot his cares for a few minutes and thoroughly enjoyed himself.  The shelter and people are a whole new world to him but he doesn’t run away from it.

Temple is going to make someone a wonderful companion. He brings out every nurturing instinct we have, but even though he’s cute and pitiful, Temple will need patience and understanding.  His new owner will need to be tolerant of his crying. It should decrease quickly once he’s in a quiet home but after the experience he’s had, a change in location is going to be upsetting to him for a while. He will need an owner who can be with him and not leave him for long periods of time until he feels safe. Lots of brushing and a food designed for skin and coat will help his dandruff. Possibly even a bath after a few more weeks.

Looking almost like the little black panther he will be.

Can you help Temple have a normal kitty life? You will be doing him an amazing good deed – but he will reward you double with all the kitty love he can give.

Sprite is Adopted!

Sprite has found her human! Nothing to do with my blog post. Just pure coincidence. Maybe.

I am a believer in collective energy directed towards something having an effect.  Every time the volunteers have directed their thoughts and hopes and prayers and energy towards getting a particular cat adopted, it happens.  Maybe there is something more to it – something subtle that we don’t recognize. But I’ve watched it happen over and over again in the 14 years I’ve been with the shelter.  This time it worked for Sprite.

So thank you to all the volunteers out there who tried to make her stay with us as pleasant as possible.  Thank you to everyone who worried about her and hoped she would find a home soon.  Your good thoughts for Sprite really did help.

Have a good life, little girl.  I hope you learn to trust someday.

Sprite the Kerfluffled Kitty: Behind Bars – Again

Hello!  It’s been a while since I’ve added to this blog, hasn’t it?  Sometimes life just gets in the way of plans. Winter is turning to spring, which is a good thing!  But for one shelter cat, it may not be such a good thing.  Sprite could find herself in a world of trouble if she doesn’t find a home, or a long term foster home, before kitten season strikes – and it’s just around the corner.

Sprite has been with us for a long time now – at least a year.  She was with us when the cats were in the old shelter, and we moved to the new building last August 2.  Sprite was moved around from office to office, and then she finally went to foster for a long time.  A couple months ago her foster mom brought her back when the population was low and put her in one of our empty colony rooms, hoping she would find a home.  But, no luck.

Why all this special treatment for one kitty?  Well, that’s hard to explain.  I’ve tried coming up with a good, concrete reason, but I guess you just have to meet Sprite to understand.  She just gets to you.  There are many many much nicer kitties at the shelter.  But Sprite just gets to you.  There are prettier cats at the shelter.  But Sprite just gets to you.  There are many cats in the world who love to live with other cats.  But Sprite isn’t one of them.  And yet, Sprite just gets to you.

This winter when Sprite was living alone in her room, if she would see a person in the hallway window, she would run expectantly to the door.  No matter what she was doing, she ran to you for affection, her big round green eyes getting even bigger, and her whole body atwitter with excitement.  Problem is, if you give her too much affection, she just doesn’t quite know what to do with it and she gets all kerfluffled.  And when Sprite gets all kerfluffled, she swats at you.  Sometimes she even decides take a quick nip at you, depending on the level of her kerfluffle.  She just has so much love to give and she gets confused about how to give it. But somehow you just can’t quite hold it against her.  Sprite just gets to you.

When Sprite had her private room, she would sit for hours watching people in the parking lot, the dog walkers go back and forth, obviously interested and yearning for a friend.  When she was introduced to a medium sized dog, she didn’t even get all upset.  She backed off a bit, but she was interested.  No outrage, not even really much fear.  Not so with other kitties.  Sprite is terrified of other cats, and unfortunately when cats are afraid, things can get nasty.  Not so much different from humans, really, so how can we hold that against Sprite?

Sprite is also afraid to be picked up.  She will walk into your lap and across your lap, and if you pick up a wand toy, she’ll jump and play and be a totally entertaining kitty.  Just don’t pick up Sprite, that’s all she asks.  Sprite was a stray, and some strays always remain afraid of being picked up. They no longer have control if you pick them up, and they are always worried about what you might be going to do to them.  When you are born homeless and your mother has to leave you defenseless and cold and hungry for hours on end while she tries to go find a meal for herself, it can leave a scar on your psyche that lasts forever.

I have lived with cats much like Sprite several times over the years and I’ve loved them all for their special personalities. Just like people, I wouldn’t want my feline friends to all be alike.  Sometimes feisty people are fun to have around.  No different for cats. Luckily my spunky girls all liked other cats so it made life a lot easier for all of us.  But somehow I have to believe that Sprite will find her human, too.

But it’s getting scary.  Sprite is back in a cage because the shelter is becoming more crowded and the colony rooms were needed for multiple cats.  When Sprite has to live in a cage, she gets frightened and starts swatting at well-meaning volunteers who try to get her out for a cage break.  She can see the other cats and she is afraid to come out.

Please help Sprite.  Forward this post.  Tell your friends.  Sprite needs a home!