New Pictures

I came home tonight and found all three kittens sleeping on different levels of the cat tree, so I just had to take a picture and wake them up! :-) That's Astro on top, Buttercup in the middle, and Blaze in the hammock on the bottom.

This next picture is from about a week ago. I apologize for the poor photography, but once I get the camera out, the dogs always seem to think that means they should come stand directly on my feet to make sure I don't get a decent picture of them. So I had to take this quick, before Bailey moved. This is her and Astro curled up together in the crate. Both Astro and Blaze like to take naps in the dogs crates on a regular basis, so I think Astro was probably there first and Bailey decided to go join him for a nap. They were so cute together!

It's those cute moments, which happen several times a day, that make me put up with the not so cute moments. In this next picture, this is what I found when I got home from work one day last week. There was nothing else to do about it, so I just had to laugh!

My husband had left the animals upstairs while he went down to work in the basement, and the animals kept themselves busy deconstructing a dog bed! At first I thought it was probably Reese's doing - but then I realized the truth...

It was BLAZE!*

My friend Julie says that Blaze gets a bad rap, and that he's actually a wonderful cat. But now that you've seen the proof for yourself, can you really believe that?!

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*Of course, I joke about this, but with my luck someone will visit my blog who was thinking about adopting Blaze, and decide not to because of my idea of humor! :-O

Remi, Bailey and Smitty

A lot has happened in the past week! But the story with Remi actually goes back several months. My stepdaughter was visiting for the summer, and she had these three magnetic bouncy balls, slightly smaller than a raquetball. They were fun to play with, and Remi thought so too. He grabbed one in his mouth and ran off with it. I ran after him into the living room, and asked him to "drop it". He likes to play a game where he refuses to drop something once he gets it. But this time, he immediately opened his mouth, and had nothing in it! I was right behind him, and didn't see the ball anywhere, but it was too big for him to swallow (wasn't it?) so I figured it must have rolled away. I checked under all the furniture, and everywhere it might have disappeared but couldn't find it! I was slightly worried, and told my husband what happened. He agreed with me that it was too big for Remi to swallow and I must just be overlooking it somewhere. I was still a little worried, but I kept an eye on him and he was fine. Well, it should be no surprise what they found in his stomach when they did the surgery - the missing ball! It took a few months to make him sick, but it appears that was the cause of his being ill. So they removed it, and he went home to recover. He's had a tough recovery - he had to go back to the vet on Friday because he had an infection and still wasn't moving or eating. But I'm happy to say that he's doing much better now. He is eating and walking around and appears on his way to a full recovery.

I only went to PetSmart for a short time on Saturday since Remi wasn't feeling well, but it was long enough for Bailey to find a home. I knew she would be adopted right away - we had several applications on her as soon as she was put on the website. She's just an adorable puppy! She went home with a family that has two other dogs and some very cute kids for her to play with.

I'd also like to introduce my newest foster, who's already been adopted. Weird, isn't it? I brought him home on Wednesday night, and he was adopted on Saturday afternoon. His name is Smitty, and he's an orange and white tabby cat. He's been on our website for awhile, and I just loved him from the moment I met him. He is one of those ultra-friendly cats that likes people, other cats, dogs, and pretty much everything. I thought he'd fit in perfectly at my house, so I asked his foster mom to let me take him home for awhile. It turned out to be a very short while, since we received a phone call on Saturday asking if someone could meet him. The lady who wanted him has several dogs and another cat, and also thought Smitty would be a perfect fit. She met him on Saturday afternoon, and just like me she fell in love and adopted him right then! So I only had Smitty a few days, but I want to add him to my blog so I never forget him. This is Smitty...

He did great at my house for the short time he was there. He got along great with the other kittens and with all the dogs. And I think my husband even liked him a little bit! Or at least he didn't dislike him as much as he dislikes the kittens. :-)

Speaking of kittens, I still have Blaze, Astro and Buttercup. Blaze is always the problem kitten - although I love him anyway! Now he's into his hair pulling stage. The more experienced cat foster moms advise me that he will outgrow this - I can't wait! But still he's ultra friendly and so laid back - I love that nothing ever phases him. Astro is my perfect kitten. He has the best expressions, and is just so cute! He likes to sleep in the dog crate on the fleece pad. He also has been known to curl up with Bailey on the dog bed. He's turned into a cuddly little guy, and I adore him. Buttercup is still very shy, but she's improved so much. She'll roam the house now and not worry too much about the dogs, but she is the first to run if a noise or something else startles her. She also loves to be petted but is still insecure about being picked up. I have to let her come to me on her terms in order for her to stick around and be petted. All in all, I have three pretty great foster kittens at the moment.

Slow day today...

I'm so weird - every week, around Wednesday or Thursday, I start looking forward to going to PetSmart on Saturday. By Friday night, I'm so excited that the next day is a PetSmart adoption event! And then by the end of the day on Saturday, I'm just tired and usually want nothing to do with dogs or cats! I start thinking "I really need to take a week off" - but then by Wednesday or Thursday, I can't wait for Saturday again! Weird, I know.

This week, we had two dog adoptions - one was Teddy, an adorable Pomeranian. He had an old injury that caused him to not use one of his back legs anymore, but he gets around just fine on three legs. He went to a home that sounds like it will be perfect for him. Our other dog that was adopted was Heidi, a dachshund mix puppy. Overall, it wasn't a great day for dog adoptions. Only two adoptions, and none of my fosters went home. It was Lacy's first week at PetSmart, and she did great, just as I had expected. She is happy to greet everyone, and very friendly and easy-going. Noah (oops, I mean Elvis - thanks Lisa!) was scared as usual, and hung out at the back of his crate wishing everyone would go away. Reese was her normal quiet self. She usually just naps the entire day. She seems to be saying to me "you can take me here, but you're wasting your time because I'm going home with you again at the end of the day, so I might as well ignore everyone and nap until its time to leave". Granted, she probably doesn't think in those terms - but that's definitely the impression she gives to people while she's there!

In happier news, one of my cats was adopted - sort of. I mentioned before that I was cat-sitting for another foster home - a kitten named GiGi. Well, she got adopted! This is a Very Good Thing, because last Saturday I also brought home her identical twin sister Buttercup. However, my husband didn't know this, and since Buttercup was shy, she spent most of her time hiding under the bed in the kitten's room, so there was really no need to tell him. The thing is, in the past few days she's become much more comfortable in the house, and has started not only coming out from under the bed, but actually coming into the rest of the house where I usually am, and the dogs are, and my husband usually is. So far I had been lucky because she looks just like GiGi, and they were never in the same place at the same time. But it was just a matter of days until my luck ran out and he realized there were actually four kittens here instead of three. He's already been complaining quite a bit about having three kittens, so I am VERY happy that GiGi got a home and he'll never need to know that Buttercup isn't actually GiGi. :-)

You may have heard me talk about Kermit in the past - he's one of the foster dogs from Heartland that I am crazy about. Believe it or not, I actually do have a few favorites other than my own foster dogs! He's been in foster care for a long time, and I really want him to get a home. So I helped him write his own web page, and I'm going to post some flyers in the area to try to reach a few more people and tell them about this great dog. I think I am drawn to him so much because I can sort of relate to him - I'm pretty clumsy myself. :-) He deserves his own home with his own family, and I just can't believe that there isn't someone out there who would be perfect for him. So please check out his web page, and pass the link on to anyone you know who may be able to give Kermit the great home that he deserves! http://www.hhsrescue.com/kermits-page.html