what you need - a post by the mom

Daiquiri checking out what mom is posting on Twitter

I have a confession to make. This isn't easy to admit and it won't be easy to read. But here goes:

I didn't want to keep Daiquiri.

There, I said it.

Now, let me back up....and I will warn you, this is a long post.

When I first started to foster, I made a commitment, both to myself and to the cats and kittens I fostered. I would always be there for them. I have been lucky in that not many have been returned (at least that I know of). Chex and Milano came back, and they stayed with me until I could get them adopted again. And there have been foster failures along the way (a foster failure for those new to this is: fostered, failed to return - also known as adopted by the foster family). In fact, now that I think about it, technically everyone here is a foster failure. :)

Last year was hard. Maestro died in May from cancer at 19 years old. I had kittens at the time....and Coral ended up working her way into my heart. So she stayed. And then she got so sick and died from FIP at 6 months old in October. I wasn't ready. While Maestro leaving was hard, it was expected and I had time to prepare. Coral was so young and it took everything I had to admit that I couldn't fix her and had to let her go. And to be honest, I still have problems seeing her picture.

At that same time, Daiquiri was tested and came back faintly FeLV positive. I could have moved her to another foster home, but committed to her and rearranged some things at the house. By the time we got the weird test results, and then the final test results, she was over 5 months old and had been here since she was about 3 weeks old. I was afraid she wouldn't get adopted as a teenager. And honestly, as much as I wouldn't commit my heart, I knew on some level that she was staying.

But I wasn't ready. Daiquiri is the POLAR opposite of Coral. While she is slowly beginning to appreciate a good cuddle, it is by far not her favorite thing. Coral on the other hand was always in my lap. Even when she was feeling good, she would play but then when it was time for a nap, she was with me. Daiquiri will happily nap by herself or with Tim. Yes, she decidedly loves Tim more than she loves me. haha

I thought long and hard. I knew I couldn't give her up. But I also knew I had to make some changes to ME in order to be fair to HER. I just didn't know where to start or what to do.

Fortunately, this was right about the time of the last painting session, and I met up with my friend Kelly. Sitting at a table painting for 6 hours, you talk about all sorts of things. And Daiquiri and Coral were among the topics. I hadn't spoken about it to anyone at that point. I wasn't even sure I could get the words together, no less finding someone who wasn't going to judge me and take it all the wrong way. Kelly was a saint!

6 hours of painting and lots of revelations

And putting it out there helped.

The other thing that helped....getting Mae West adopted. I know, sounds strange. But the woman who adopted her was asking me - how do you choose? And after walking her through the process, it made me think.

Miss Mae West

Over that next weekend, I came to a few realizations:

1. Sometimes you don't choose. Sometimes it happens. I was prepared to keep the numbers at 6 after losing Coral. Apparently, my plans were ignored. And I had to accept that.

2. Maybe what I thought I wanted, wasn't in fact what I needed. And it certainly wasn't what that household needed. See, for those of you who have followed for a while, you know about Junior and Ivy and Spud. They have a....hate-hate relationship. However, Daiquiri LOVES Junior. She doesn't know his background - he has always just been her dorky older brother. While Spud and Ivy think Junior is weird and annoying, Daiquiri just sees Junior. And heavens she plays with him to no end. Surprisingly, it has made a difference....while he doesn't entirely leave the other two alone, and while the other two still take him at face value and find him annoying, having someone else to chase around who loves the game is much more fun. And a tired Junior is a very good thing.

In fact, the other evening, Daiquiri was down in the entry way to the condo, singing about something (or testing the acoustics - who knows with that girl). Junior looked over the edge, then snuck down the stairs. A couple of minutes later.....pounding herds of elephants up the steps and down the hall...Junior in the lead with Daiquiri hot on his tail!!!

3. I needed to let go. Losing Maestro was hard. Losing Coral broke my heart. But trying to force Daiquiri into a mold where she was never going to fit wasn't fair to her....or to me. I had to learn to love her for who she is....a nutty loveable goofy kitten.

Now if I could only get her to like me as much as she likes Tim.....  Or maybe that really IS wishful thinking.

By the way.....hard as it is to believe - the nut is 6 months old now. Happy Half Birthday Daiquiri!!
(oh - and she is going to be a big girl....not fat, but tall and sturdy)

thankful Thursday

Mom made it home Tuesday night. We were thrilled to see her and so were the kitts. We think even Strawberry might have been a little excited.

Strawberry had been a little snotty when they first got here. But it seems she waited until mom left to give it to the kittens. Mom got a text from the pet sitter on Sunday that one of the kittens had gunky eyes. Then it upgraded to snotty noses. But...everyone was eating and playing, so mom let it go and picked up meds from the rescue on the way home Tuesday night. Fanta is the worst....her one eye is really gunky and she is pretty snotty. But after getting cleaned up and couple of doses of meds into her, she looks a little better. Faygo is snotty and has some eye discharge, but not as bad as her sister. Rootbeer has almost nothing. We suspect his sisters aren't happy about that - MOL. However, he is getting meds with his sisters anyhow.

Grandma is doing better. On the drive home Tuesday, Grandma called mom and said the physical therapist didn't take any crap from Grandma and made her get up and walk down the hall.  YAY!!  Mom spoke to Grandpa yesterday at lunch and they have adjust her meds down some, taken all the iv's and everything else out ("Grandma unplugged") and getting her up several times per day. The nurse for the surgeon talked to Grandpa and they are going to delay sending Grandma home for a few days and make sure she is stronger (rather than move her to a rehab facility for a few days then send her home).

All in all....good progress. Thanks SO very much for all the purrs.....we know it helped.

Mozart's Gotcha Day

Our house panther has been with us for 8 years. Hard to believe it has been that long some times. For those who weren't following us then, Mozart came to us as a foster kitten with his orange tabby brother Picasso. Both went back to the shelter to be adopted, but Mo got a cold and came back to the house. His eye infection got so bad that in fact he has a corneal scar on his left eye. It doesn't seem to bother him and if it affects his vision, you can't tell anymore. But at the shelter he was a 6 month old black male cat with "special needs". Plus he hated being there and was being a bit of an.....idiot....to strangers and some staff.  MOL

Mo LOVES mom. He is all over her a good deal of the time and would sleep on top of her if she would let him. And he has a mild obsession with chewing on her hair (she doesn't allow that either).

While he is great with people and most of us here, he certainly has his cranky moments....normally at the v-e-t. And while mom doesn't blame him for that, he has to be reminded that he isn't allowed to bite people either. He also grumbles about getting his nails trimmed and certainly has no use for foster kittens.

But we love him anyway.

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY MO!!!

Someone made the comment to mom that maybe Mo will mellow with age. Mom is afraid he is already a grumpy old man and is going to get worse. hahaha

World Spay Day

We can't think of anything more important than spaying and neutering your pets. Many organizations - here in the US and across the country have gotten together to spread the word through World Spay Day.

As someone in animal rescue, mom finds nothing more frustrating than people who refuse to spay or neuter their pets. There is a SERIOUS overpopulation problem that can be at least partly resolved if people would be responsible.

Did you know that Petsmart Charities even has a locator service on their website to help people find local services in their area?  Click here to find out more

And Best Friends Animal Society started their Fix at Four outreach program to make people aware that pets can start having litters as early as four months. Our local low cost clinic will do pediatric surgeries for the public at 3 months old (that way they can do the rabies vaccine at the same time).

Please - be part of the solution!!

some purrs please.....

Mom won't be around much for the next few days. Our grandma is having MAJOR surgery on her neck (mom says if they put anymore hardware in grandma she is going to be the bionic woman - we don't get it). Mom will have the laptop, but doesn't know how much access she will have. Hopefully we will get caught up next week some.

almost wordless Wednesday

not sure how Ivy sleeps like that

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if we could ask you a favor, would you mind clicking over to the Auctions for Petz and checking out what is available for the new addition to the cat houses at Winnie's Wish????

Pet Dental Health Month

The nice people at Chewy.com asked if we would like to review the Feline Greenies this month. Since it is Pet Dental Health month, we though that was a grand idea.

Some of you may remember back in January 2013, Tim had his teeth cleaned, then was diagnosed with stomatitis and had most of his teeth extracted. (this is a great article from over on Catster.com)

Anyhow, if you have been around here much, you know that there are very few things we won't eat.

Though Ivy didn't seem to be a big fan this time around. Tim wasn't either, but since he doesn't have many teeth left, mom wasn't too worried. MOL

But, speaking of Tim, when he was at the v-e-t the last time, she noticed that the teeth he has left (his fangs basically) were also getting inflamed.

In honor of Pet Dental Health Month, Tim may end up being toothless.

Mom knows she should be brushing teeth around here, but honestly, she has this weird thing about keeping her fingers attached to her hand. Far be it from us to deny her the right to feed us more treats for a good cause.

weekend happenings

The kitts are about 5 weeks old now (give or take). They got their first vaccines on Saturday. They did well and are growing like crazy.

 

Fanta

 

Rootbeer

 

Faygo

(she has more white on her chest)

 

Strawberry

They have figured out how to climb the gate. We like this one since it is taller, but the bars are closer together. Daiquiri still sits right outside, but also still hisses at the kittens.

Strawberry is fine with everyone....so long as we stay OUTSIDE the gate. Tim went over the other day and Strawberry was NOT having it. Mom said the impressive part was how quickly Tim turned right around and got back out. MOL

The kittens are incredibly sweet and outgoing. Mom got to ask about their background...the rescue got a call from an apartment complex that found the family outside. Which means to us someone had to have kicked them out....mom is a nice girl, they are all pretty healthy and the kittens are social.

Happy Valentine's Day

We sure our happy that WE are mom's best valentines!!

Tom and Tim

Mozart

Ivy

Spud

Junior (baby picture)

Daiquiri

soda kittens

The new kittens are doing very well. Strawberry (the mom cat) is a bit sneezy, but honestly with all she has been through in the last week, that isn't too surprising. She is eating well and doing well, so mom is going to let it ride and keep an eye on her.

The kittens are hilarious - jumping all over each other. And they just don't hold still really well for pictures.

Anyhow, some of you may remember the flower collar:

Mom got it at BlogPaws 2013 and Triscuit (seen above) wore it well. It isn't very big (it is actually made for ferrets) but it fits the little ones.

Mom decided to try it on the newbies....with limited success. MOL

Rootbeer (the black tabby male) refused to cooperate. The girls (Fanta and Faygo - mom has to get better side by side pictures of them to determine which is which....their markings are similar but different enough to tell them apart) were ok with it but weren't thrilled.

TBT

Remember these two??  Tangerine and Clementine??

Well, mom gets updates from their new mom and dad and they are doing great:

Mom thinks the darker on is Ike (Clementine) but has to admit she isn't sure. They are the light of their new momma's life and keep her entertained. We do hear they were interested in the Christmas tree at first but eventually left it alone. MOL

wordless Wednesday

Opt to Adopt and Fundraiser

As most of you know, in addition to our local rescue, we are big fans of Miss Chrystal and Winnie's Wish over at Daily Dose of Dogs. Well, if you haven't heard by now, they are having a fundraiser to build another cat house. They are at max capacity....so if you have ever considered adopting, now is the time. And don't let distance stop you - we have helped get kitties to California and Canada!!

You can go to their GoFundMe site and donate.

Or....an auction is being organized:


Here are those ready for new homes:

Slate, Toast and Smokey.....