Great Adoption Weekend!

My foster cat Simon was adopted on Thursday evening.  He went home with a young couple who are very excited to have a new member of the family.  Then today Tiggr went to his new home!  He was adopted by a single lady who recently lost her sixteen year old cat.  Each one will be an only cat and I think they'll do great in their new homes.  As if the two cat adoptions were not exciting enough, today we had a great adoption day at PetSmart as three dogs found homes, and one more is pending adoption (after a home visit).  First is Hunter, a large black lab that was most likely going to be euthanized if his foster mom had not pulled him from animal control.  The foster family adopted him and he is doing great in his new home.  The other two adoptions were both unexpected but people who were shopping just fell in love with them when they saw them, so they were in the right place at the right time.  Bailey the Chocolate Lab puppy was adopted, and Polly my foster Chihuahua was also adopted!   Arnold the pit bull/manatee also received an application for adoption and will hopefully be adopted pending a home visit. It is wonderful to see so many pets getting into homes.  

Now that we have some more openings for cats at PetSmart, I'm going to be sending Brie, Sorbet and Belle up to PetSmart so they will have more opportunities to be seen.  That will only leave me with Cleo, Ziggy and Kira and her kittens left here at home.  For now.  

I did manage to bring home two extra puppies, just for the weekend.  I was kind of surprised that neither of these cute puppies was adopted at the event today, but I'm sure it won't take long until they too are adopted!

Introducing Brie and Sorbet; Tiggr was Returned

I didn't name these two kittens. I just kept the names they were given at the shelter. Kittens are often given weird names, especially when there are so many coming into a shelter on a regular basis.  It's a sign of a good shelter that they were given names instead of just numbers!  The shelter where I found them is trying very hard to be both open-admission and no-kill.  They're doing a great job caring for the cats, but unfortunately they don't do as many adoptions in their location as they need.  These kittens were turned in by their "owners" when they were only ten weeks old.  There were originally three kittens in the litter, and when they were turned in they were thin, dirty, had fleas, worms and coccidia.  One of the kittens later died from coccidia, and only Brie and Sorbet survived.  They've been living in cages in the shelter since October!  They're now almost nine months old, and since they were ten weeks old, other than possibly some time in the shelter's play room, they've only known life in a cage. When I saw them there last week, among the many dozens of other cats, I immediately picked them out.  It was so hard to leave behind the rest of the cats, many of whom had been waiting even longer than these two. 

I was a bit worried about them since they've never really known life in a home.  Would they be scared in my house with all the normal household noises and the dogs barking?  Would they feel scared of all the open space since they've been confined for so long?  I put them together in the office and shut the door to let them get accustomed to the room without any distractions.  Next time I went in, this is what I found:

Brie

Brie was hiding behind the chair, looking very afraid.  I talked to her, and she let me pet her, but it was obvious that she was very nervous.  I had left a crate in the room which she ignored, but she later hid under the dog bed in the room and anytime the door opened or closed, I would find her either under the bed or running for the bed to hide.  When I'm there, she gets brave enough to come out and she purrs while I pet her, but even after a week she's still very frightened. 
Then there's her sister Sorbet. 


Sorbet

She's a bit different than Brie in both looks and personality.  Her beautiful blue eyes and unique markings are what first caught my attention, but if I had known what her personality was before pulling her from the shelter, I would have been a bit more prepared.  Shortly after I put Brie and Sorbet in the office, I heard a lot of thumping.  It sounded like the cats were bouncing off the walls.  And knocking down things on shelves and destroying the room.  I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Sorbet was doing.  When I went in and found Brie huddled behind the chair, Sorbet was right there looking out the door trying to see into the rest of the house.  I sat and talked to the cats, and while Brie just looked at me with fear in her eyes, Sorbet ran up to me and climbed in my lap and began purring.  Within 2 hours of being in the office, Sorbet had finished investigating everything in the room and playing with all the toys, and was back to bouncing off the walls.  I finally gave in and let her out into the main room of the house.  She came right out, met Missy and Remi, checked out the bedroom and the living room and the kitchen, and made herself right at home. I debated  letting her stay out all night, but I was afraid the entire house would be destroyed, so I put her back in the office. This cat is going to be so much trouble for some lucky family.  Because although she has unending energy, no fear, and way too much curiosity, she's also sweet and loving and affectionate.  I adore her.

I also received a call from Tiggr's adopters last night.  Although they love him and said he is everything they hoped for, they babysit for their 18 month old granddaughter and she has allergies to cats.  They haven't had cats in many years so they didn't know it until Tiggr came to live with them.  They were very sad to give him up, and I was sad for Tiggr's sake.  But he's back home with me again and will keep waiting for just the right home to come along!

Tiggr Was Adopted!

I did not expect it to happen so quickly. But the perfect family came along at just the right time, and now Tiggr is happily living his new life with a retired couple. Of course there are no shortage of cats needing help, so I quickly filled up Tiggr's spot with a momma cat and two kittens. And then I went to a shelter and pulled three more cats from there. This is part of the reason I've been too busy to update my blog! I've also been too busy to take their pictures or name them, so I'll be officially introducing them shortly. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Saturday's adoption event. We had many dogs available, and two of them found homes. All dogs featured in this post are currently available for adoption.

Mixed breed puppy pulled from a high-kill shelter

Two year old beagle pulled from rural shelter

My foster dog Missy - came from city animal control

Mixed breed dog from an area shelter

Tucker - waiting for a home for several months now!

Chihuahua from puppy mill

Arnold - turned in when family moved to state with BSL

Kimmy - mixed breed dog from an area shelter

Another Chihuahua from puppy mill

Yet another chihuahua from a puppy mill

And still another chihuahua from puppy mill

Sparkle - transfer from another rescue

Ziggy, praying for a new home (or a snack).

Introducing Tiggr: Cat Extraordinaire

Tiggr, my newest foster cat, is not just another cat.  He's remarkable for two reasons.  First, Tiggr is extremely adaptable.  That says adaptable, not adoptable.  Tiggr is seven years old, so he might be stuck with me for awhile.  That's why it is so good that he is adaptable.  Most cats would make their displeasure known if they were taken from their home and brought to a strange house where they were expected to get along with strange dogs and strange people.  Not Tiggr - within 24 hours he was already sleeping in my bed, following me around, and making himself right at home.  He even let my niece carry him around without complaining.

And second, Tiggr is... well... there's no other way to say this. He's perfect. He never does anything wrong. I don't know what to do with such a perfect cat. I'm used to cats that meow loudly and demand things. Cats that try to escape out the door every chance they get. Cats that scratch up furniture and jump on countertops. It's been so long since I've had a perfect foster cat that I forgot what it was like. But don't worry - Merlin will be moving back in next week (I had to wait until my nieces and nephews could have his going away party) and once he's back, I'm sure Merlin will be glad to teach Tiggr all sorts of ways to misbehave. Tiggr will be acting like a normal cat in no time. So for now, I'll just have to deal with his impeccable manners, calm demeanor, and undemanding attitude.

Introducing Missy: Small But Mighty

Missy is a ten month old Schipperke/Chihuahua mix that was an owner turn-in at a local shelter. The All Paws volunteer who pulled her took her home to foster and got her all ready to be adopted. But there was a problem. Missy may only weigh eight pounds, but in her mind, she's a Big Dog. And she didn't do well with the other small dog that was in her foster home. Because after all, as the Big Dog in the house, she was sure she would be in charge, and when the small dog didn't agree, there were issues. So it was suggested that perhaps she would be better off in a different foster home, where she could no longer beat up on tiny toy poodles. This is how I came to foster Missy.


It's pretty obvious around here that although Remi weighs over twenty times more than Missy, he is not in charge. Although to be fair, Missy is also not in charge. In our house, we have a hierarchial relationship that looks like this:

I think it's obvious from reading this chart that I am very good at wasting time that could be spent on more important things like fixing up the house. It's also obvious that I need to spend more time learning the definition of a hierarchial relationship.  But the point is that the size of the dog or cat does not matter in the least. Tigger is my newest foster cat, and he is in charge of Missy. Granted, Tigger is larger than Missy. But Missy is in charge of Remi, and she is definitely not larger than Remi.

Never mind that one swipe of his giant paw could flatten her.

Missy is fast - she can run circles around Remi!

One thing that both Missy and Remi have in common, is they both think that no matter their size, they are cuddly lap dogs. Whether you want to cuddle or not - if you sit on a couch in my house, you must be prepared for this:

My dad, wishing the dogs understood the concept of personal space.

Missy is turning out to be a perfect foster dog, and surprisingly, a great playmate for Noelle (when she visits) and Remi (when he manages to wake up from a nap).  She will probably be adopted quickly but I'm enjoying every minute I have with her.