A.C.'s Feral Feline Foursome Foray

They are beautiful and I'm glad you got them back. I would have a hard time giving back little Cindy-Lou-Heather too!

Keep up the good work! you are an

Good news: because of the crazy blizzard we've got going on, my boss all but kicked me out of the office early today, so I scooted over to the shelter and picked up my fosters.

Bad news: 1) The girls did NOT get spayed after all, so I'll have to bring them back in a month whether I want to or not. 2) The shelter gave me two of my kittens and two of their own kittens. Completely UNTESTED and UNTREATED kittens who then spent an hour crammed into a tiny carrier with my Heather and Sarah.

*sigh*

I'm glad to have two of my babies back, but sheez-louize, I'm gonna need some serious Valium by the time these kittens are adopted.

Well, it's official. Remy and Heather belong to me. I'm such a failure as a foster mom.

Heather has been here since yesterday afternoon and apparently she's decided she no longer belongs in the kitten room. She started crying this morning when she heard me moving around in the kitchen and when I opened the door she scooted right out. She's been wandering around the house ever since. Silly kitty!

Doesn't she look like she knows she's home?

Totally fascinated by the falling snow.

She spent a long time at this window. Isn't she cute?

Here she is being greeted by Allen.


Remy clearly remembers me but he seems a bit spooked by everything. I'm going to keep him in the kitten room until he starts greeting me at the door, which should only take a couple of days.

Ellie and Sarah are definitely going to take a while longer. Poor Ellie is still hissing at first sight of me and I can't pick either of them up, although both will start purring not too long after I start scritching them while they're tucked away in their "safe spot" in their carrier. I have to bring everyone in for their final shots in four weeks - I hope I can get Ellie and Sarah to come around by then 'cause I'm sure the shelter will want to try to adopt them out again.

MAJOR breakthroughs today!

First, Remy greeted me at the kitten door this evening while I was still standing and moving, so, yay!, he'll be out roaming the house during the day for the next two weeks (I'm off until Jan 5th). He also gave me a lovely surprise. After stepping up onto my folded knees, he reached up, rubbed noses with me and then head-butted my cheek. Even my own cats don't do that!! (Is there a teary-eyed-happy icon?) I melted right on the spot. *sniff*

Even more importantly, first Sarah this morning and then Ellie this evening walked up to me and asked to be petted. Their body language was surprisingly clear, they were greeting me and wanted me to pet them. Then they STAYED IN MY LAP on their OWN for several minutes apiece. Yippee!!!!


I'm so happy right now.

That made *my* fur stand up. That's why I really dislike animal control and try not to have anything to do with them if I can. They don't understand ferals and they don't seem to even want to try.

I am so glad you got your babies back and you're making such progress. I was getting so worked up by the time I read the part that you got them back lol

sounds like are doing great now that they're back with you! I'm so glad Remy and Heather have a home with you and I think the smiley you were looking for is this one

My ferals are coming along wonderfully - I'm so very proud of them! Ellie and Sarah will now let me approach, pet and pick them up from a standing/walking position, as well as stay close when I put them back down. I can even, as of today, bring their faces close to mine without a panic ensuing, although they're still a bit sketchy with that.

Heather and Remy have had the run of the house all week now and, except for an occasional freak-out which they quickly recover from, are nearly as calm as my own cats (well, as calm as kittens can ever be LOL!). Remy is turning into a total love bug and even sleeps with me on my pillow sometimes, but Heather, I think, is going to be one of those 'I love you but I'm really too busy doing this wonderful thing I'm doing' kinda cats. Maybe she'll mellow as she ages.

I've decided to bring Ellie and Sarah to the shelter on Saturday. It breaks my heart to see them go, but they're ready and I know I can't keep them forever. I'm proud of them and I want the best for them, and it's so incredibly hard to let them go to an unknown future. I have to keep reminding myself that I've done my part and I have to trust that they'll be ok from here. But, knowing the statistics on kitten adoptions, that hope is slim indeed.

Maybe the shelter will allow contact between the adopter(s) and I? That would be certainly be helpful.

Lucinda, Sarah, and Ellie have all been adopted through the shelter. Spencer was adopted by me a few weeks ago and today, I officially adopted Heather.

And so closes this adventure. The shelter's not allowing any contact between me and the other adopters and didn't even call me when the adoptions took place, so I was not able to give the new owners any information or the care-packages I had planned to donate. Nor did they keep Sarah and Ellie together as I had requested.

I'm disappointed, but ok. I got the whole family off the streets and I gave them love and warmth and security. I showed them that people can be good and that inside is a wonderful place to be. I gave them a chance to have the life we all wish for our furbabies. As incredibly harsh as this winter has been, the kittens would surely be dead now if they had remained outside. Spencer and Heather will spend the rest of their lives with me, and I will have to trust to God that the others will do as well in their new homes.

Rescueing and socializing these kittens was a lot of work, and a huge, unanticipated amount of stress, but worth it in the end. I can't do it again because my fur-family seems to be content with the mix I have and I absolutely don't want to mess with that. I have a tremendous amount of respect for people who do this on a regular basis. May God bless every one of you!

Here are some pics of my furfamily to make you smile.
Rachel and Spencer

Spencer and Heather

Spencer

Left to right: Heather, Rachel, Allen and Spencer

Left to right: Rachel, Meghan, Heather, Spencer and Allen

Heather

What a beautifully happy and sad story!!! Your furbabies are absolutely adorable and I am so happy for you! God bless you for your love and devotion to our wonderful furry loving friends!!

Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

The shelter's not allowing any contact between me and the other adopters and didn't even call me when the adoptions took place, so I was not able to give the new owners any information or the care-packages I had planned to donate. Nor did they keep Sarah and Ellie together as I had requested.

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That's not right. As the foster mom, you should not have been locked out of the process. We don't do that! As a potential adoptee - I would WANT to communicate with you about the cat's personality, habits, etc. And keeping kittens/cats together when they are bonded is always preferable, not not always possible and I know our reviewers have had to make that tough call.

Just wanted to give everyone an update on the kittens.

Sadly, the shelter adamantly refused to give me info on Sarah and Ellie's adopters, so I'll never know how they're doing. I pray for them often, though. (Wish I could just move on, but don't know how to let it go. *sniff*).

Heather and Spencer, however, are doing GREAT! Heather's coat finally grew out of it's scraggly scruffy stage (we used to make fun of her soooo much, she just looked awful, especially her tail *chuckle*). She's as crazy as I thought she'd be and still very much a go, go, go kinda kitty. She likes to be petted, but only for very short periods at a time and she detests being picked up - she's more of the "drive-by-petting" persuasion. However, she sleeps on my bed every night and occasionally does come looking for scritches. I expect as time continues to pass, she'll mellow even more.

Here's some recent photos of her...




Is she not beautiful? :-)

Spencer still retains some of his skittish ways. Like Heather, he doesn't like being picked up. Unlike Heather, he's constantly on the defensive about it and he'll use his claws as deeply as need be to enforce his preference. He's also very strong; I've never met a cat this powerful. Our annual vet visit is in two weeks and I'm kinda dreading it, as I have this awful certainty that the vet, or me, or both of us is destined to lose some skin.

On the other hand, his purr is just as loud and quick to sound as ever. He still sleeps on my pillow at night, as close to my face as he can get. Lately, he's even been laying his shoulders and cheek right ON my face, purring so loudly, the whole bed vibrates.

It's pathetic, I know, but his affection seems so profound sometimes it makes me want to cry. His presence often interferes with my sleeping, but I'll never want it any other way.

Here are some of his pics...




But best of all, and the reason I thought to update this post; I am very happy to report that after missing Jasmine for over a year, Allen has finally accepted a new buddy. *sniff* It's been a long time coming - Spencer's integration into my furfamily was done with this end partially in mind - and it's wonderful to see this hope realized.



And just cause Allen's my heart kitty, here's another pic of him. Can you just see the love?

they are lovely babies ...

LOL @ the not liking piked up I know the feeling well ... Zoey will have been with me for 5 yrs next month and it is still on a ER or AS Direly needed basis ... Dahlia after nearly a yr is you have 10 seconds starting now

Originally Posted by sharky

they are lovely babies ...

LOL @ the not liking piked up I know the feeling well ... Zoey will have been with me for 5 yrs next month and it is still on a ER or AS Direly needed basis ... Dahlia after nearly a yr is you have 10 seconds starting now

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Oh-my-gosh, Sharky, your "you have 10 seconds starting now" is freaking hysterical. I laughed so hard, Allen jumped off my lap in disgust.

And thanks for the compliment!