Essie and Tessa were adopted!

I had a good weekend at adoptions - not only did we have beautiful weather, but two of my foster pets found homes!  Essie, the sweet kitten who I just took back as a return immediately found another home with a great family.  I'm happy for her that she was adopted so quickly, to make the transition from her last home to her new home as easily as possible.  Also, the surprise adoption for the day was Tessa.  My beautiful sweet foster dog who I thought would take awhile to be adopted received a lot of attention at PetSmart and ended up going home with a new family at the end of the day.   They've sent me pictures and she's doing great in her new home.  I'm very happy for her, but I sure do miss her!

Introducing Essie; Art

One more new cat - Essie was adopted out a few months ago but due to unfortunate circumstances, her family had to return her.  Essie is such a sweet cat - she just fits right into my crazy household.  She made friends with Merlin and Gandalf, and she even seems to like the dogs.

 

I don't get how to work my camera.  I really need to take a class or something.  Otherwise I end up with weird pictures.  In the picture above, Essie almost looks orange.  In the picture to the left, she almost looks white.  I'm pretty sure she doesn't actually change colors, so it must be the photographer.  Maybe if I paid more attention to what settings I was using instead of just randomly saying "let's try this", I would know how I end up with these odd pictures.

Take these picture of Merlin, for example.  The one on the right looks normal.  But then I randomly changed my camera settings to something - no idea what - and got the one on the left.  It almost looks like some cool artist shot - like the bizarre colors were purposely done that way.  I kind of like it. 

Which gave me an idea.  I don't usually edit my photos.  That's for professional photographers and people with more time on their hands.  I prefer to give you the SOOC shot (straight out of camera), because I'm just lazy.  But since the colors in this photo are messed up anyway, I thought I'd try it in black and white.

I like it.  What do you think?

Rowdy & Venus were adopted; other adoptions

We had a lot of exciting dog adoptions this weekend. My foster dog Rowdy was adopted on Saturday. I talked to his new family yesterday and he's settled in very quickly to his new home, and is doing great. Also one of my previous short-term foster dogs, Dash, is being adopted!! He met his new family on Sunday, and they're planning to come back and adopt him later this week - hooray!! Another dog from our shelter was also adopted on Saturday. Her name is Mattie - she looks a lot like Kai, my foster dog. Mattie went home with a family with lots of kids, and she looked so excited to be on the receiving end of so much love and attention. Also Kevin and Candy, two small breed dogs who came from horrible circumstances, went home on Saturday with new families, where they will be loved and spoiled for the rest of their lives. All in all, it was a great weekend for Heartland dogs.

As for cats, I am not sure who all got adopted (check Angie's blog for updates), other than my foster kitten Venus. She was adopted by a family who has adopted from Heartland before. It's always great to have adopters come back and adopt another pet into their family. I think Venus will be very happy in her new home.

Sedna was adopted!; Update on my fosters

It was a busy weekend for Heartland volunteers. In addition to our regular adoptions at PetSmart, we had two other events going on. Some of our volunteers went to a special off-site adoption event, and they were nice enough to take a couple of my foster cats for me. One of the cats, Sedna, found a new home at the event. Thanks to Julie, Ashley, Sue and Lisa for volunteering at this event! Other volunteers held a bake sale fundraiser at Dierberg's. They did a great job raising money for Heartland! Thanks to Brenda, Erin, Becky, Teresa, Lisa, and Michael, and all the volunteers who donated baked goods for the event.

Here's an update on my fosters. I started this blog so I could write about my foster pets and go back later to read it and remember them and things about them, so I want to write a bit about everyone I have right now (no counting please).

Noelle - She turned one year old this week! Happy Birthday my girl. Noelle is the longest term foster I've had, and the favorite foster I've had. She gets so excited to see me every time, and just comes flying at me wagging her tail as fast as she can. She had a home visit with a family this week that sounded like a perfect fit, and I was scared I would lose her - but she attacked their dog and so she came back home with me. Last night I gave her a donated stuffed animal, and she got to engage in her favorite pastime - destuffing! Tonight after work I get to go home and pick up stuffing that is spread all over the bedroom. She's worth the extra work though. :-)

Kai - Kai is a temporary foster dog that I've had a hard time letting go. Her foster mom finally convinced me she should come back to her, so later this week she'll go back to her original foster home. She's such a good dog - rather timid and shy, but she's improved so much in the past few weeks. Her favorite thing to do is to sit by the baby gate that blocks the hallway to the back rooms where the kittens are. She LOVES the kittens - a little too much. She will sit at that gate for hours, waiting for a glimpse of the kittens. Even when I have the bedroom doors shut so no kittens could possibly come out, she still sits there staring down the hall, looking for them.

Gator - Gator has improved a lot in the past couple of weeks - he no longer bites my shoes or feet or legs every second that he can. Now he only does it once every 10 or 15 seconds! He has the cutest puppy gallop, and when I call the dogs and they all come running, he is so cute always lagging behind everyone else because he's too little to keep up. I was hoping that Gator would be adopted this weekend, since he's such an adorable puppy, but he was not. I recently received an e-mail from another Heartland volunteer who's neighbor brought her a puppy that she didn't want. So in order for me to take in that puppy, another Heartland volunteer offered to take Gator and foster him. So tonight Gator goes to a new home. He's already been there to be "dog-sat" for a few hours, so I'm sure he'll do fine - actually he'll be spoiled rotten - first time foster homes are usually awesome at that. :-)

Pip - Pip is a very small beagle mix who is living in my daughter's room with some kittens. He acts JUST like a kitten - I'm a little concerned that he doesn't know how to be a dog. It would be good for him to be around other puppies or dogs right now, but he's so little that he'll get hurt playing with any of my other dogs, so he just has me and the kittens to play with. He likes to climb up on my shoulder when I hold him, and he likes to play with feather toys, and he loves to wrestle with the kittens. He sleeps in a cat bed too.

Rowdy - Rowdy hasn't been properly introduced yet, but I'll introduce him and post his picture soon. Rowdy is, well, he's the opposite of rowdy. He's very laid back for the most part. He loves to go outside and roll in the grass. He doesn't appear to care for bones or most treats. He doesn't want to play with most toys. He mostly wants to sit in your lap and be petted. Then maybe go for a walk, then straight back into the air conditioning for some more petting.

Scribbles - My foster cat who is living at PetSmart. She's kind of taken Whisper's place as the "cat with an attitude" at PetSmart now that Whisper is adopted. I hope Scribbles gets a home soon too - she is such a sweet cat when she's not at PetSmart or around other animals, but no one has been able to see that since she's kind of mean while she's there.

Marco & Polo - These guys are also living at PetSmart temporarily, and they get a lot of attention up there. They're my most laid-back cats I've had in a long time. Although that could just be because I'm used to hyper kittens all the time now. :-)

Anastasia - The last of the Disney litter, Stasi is living up at PetSmart temporarily and hopefully will be adopted quickly. She's my little complainer - she is very vocal and quick to complain if she's unhappy, but she's also quick to purr if she's happy.

Mercury & Venus - The last two of the Solar System litter - they're doing great. Both of them constantly try to sneak out of the bedroom they're in and join the rest of the house, even though Kai is stalking them on the other side of the gate. They are super affectionate and friendly and purr everytime I pick them up. These kittens are going to be big - they're about double the size of the Disney litter at the same age.

Chessie - She's the most playful of all the kittens I have. She's constantly running or climbing or jumping.

Capri - I never particularly wanted a Siamese cat - I've never been drawn to their looks, and was surprised they are always in such high demand. But I think if I adopted a cat of my own, it might be Capri. She's a Siamese mix - cream with chocolate points, and blue eyes, and she's so affectionate. I can't figure out what it is about her that makes me want to keep her so much, but I am considering the idea of adopting her.

Cabbie & Cilla - These two kittens are so funny - they're roly-poly kittens who are probably a week or two younger than Capri and Chessie. Cabbie has a cold right now, and Cilla has some missing hair so they're both quarantined from the rest of the kittens while they undergo treatment. They don't seem to mind so much though - they are playful but not as much as Chessie - and they're affectionate but not as much as Capri. They're mostly happy with each other, a few toys, someplace comfortable to sleep, and lots of canned kitten food.

Mercury, Venus, Sedna; Outtakes

I took some new pictures of Mercury, Venus and Sedna, my Solar System kittens, for the website. Mercury is so affectionate, he'll never leave me alone to let me take his picture, so here I took a picture by holding up the camera in one hand and pointing it at him, and trying to crop my face out of the picture. It was the best I could do! I can't help it that he loves me so much. :-)

Venus is so sweet. She has a bladder infection so she is on antibiotics right now, and she has to go back to the vet next week to get rechecked out. Even though she probably doesn't feel good, and doesn't like her medicine, she's always purring.


Sedna has the coolest tail. It's ringed, kind of like a raccoon. In this picture she's sitting on an awesome scratching post made by the Girl Scouts. All of the kittens love it - thanks Girl Scouts!



And now for some fun, silly pictures! Here Sedna is trying to grab a feather toy that I'm swinging in front of the camera - she's not really picking on her sister like it appears. At least not deliberately.


Remember Emma, my Newfoundland foster dog? She managed to put a nice big hole in her PetCot pet bed before she was adopted. The company said they can repair it, but since I haven't brought it in to be fixed yet, it's just sitting in the extra bedroom leaning against the wall. The kittens seem to be enjoying it the way it is...

In the other bedroom, Pip is living with Cilla, Capri, Chessie & Cabbie, and they all get along great. I swear he thinks he's a cat - he runs and plays just like they do, and they all wrestle together. He just can't figure out how to climb on top of the ex-pen or the bed like the kittens do.

Here's Pip playing with the feather toy while Capri chases the string. Puppies and kittens are so entertaining!

Introducing Mercury, Venus and Sedna

These are my new Solar System kittens. We received a call from someone who's cat had kittens and they didn't want them, and so since my current kittens are almost ready for adoption, I agreed to take them. They're around 12 weeks old, just slightly older than my Disney kittens, but twice as big! The Disney kittens don't even weigh two pounds yet, and these Solar kitties weigh over four pounds. I've named them after planets that share the same coloring as them. Mercury is the gray male kitten. Venus is the buff colored female kitten. And Sedna is the tortoiseshell female kitten. So in case you didn't know, Mercury the planet is gray, and Venus the planet is tan colored, and Sedna the dwarf planet is sort of reddish-brown. Too bad I don't have a kitten that fits the description of Neptune - now that would be a funny looking cat!