My Sam

It has been quite a while since I have written anything on this wonderful blog.  I knew what I wanted to write about next and it has taken me a while.  I wanted to write about my Sammy.

Sammy was adopted from Waupaca area humane society by my best friend Casey.  He wasn't originally my cat.  I wrote about Sam in my first post about not wanting to split up Sammy and Lacy when we moved.  Sam and Lacy were great friends and spent many hours snuggling.  Sam loved to snuggle.  He would purr this wonderfully loud purr.

I remember one time when Casey and I lived together, in this horrible apartment, there was a mouse. Sammy caught that mouse and we were so grossed out.  I, being the brave person of the 2 of us (haha) grabbed a bowl and a pizza pan and scooped the mouse up and went and threw all 3 things outside.  The mouse took off running.  I will never forget that.

When we moved out and went to live in different apartments, Sam seemed to be mad at Casey.  I remember Casey came over once and had put his jacket on the chair.  Lacy was curious but Sam stayed away at first.  Then he slowly came into the living room of my apartment and smelled the jacket.  He jumped up on it and fell asleep, ending all mad feelings.  Sammy was Casey's cat.  Casey was Sammy's human.  Same thing with Lacy and me.

When Lacy died, Sammy had the hardest time.  I think he went into a depression.  She was all he knew and they were best friends.  It wasn't long after Lacy died that I started looking for a companion, mostly for Sam.  I knew I wanted a female and I wanted a calico.  Basically, I wanted another Lacy.  I went to one animal rescue and I didn't like the feeling I got there so I left.  I went to another and told them what I was looking for.  In rescue, we call that a "Mc Kitty".  There was this tiny kitten there that would eventually come to live with us.  Baby Annabelle.  Bella.  Sam was so annoyed with her.  They were friends, but slow friends.  Bella LOVED Sammy.  A lot!  She was always hanging out with him or trying to play with him.

Sam started to get sick.  He stopped eating and it started to worry me.  I took him in for a check to a vet.  They had no idea what was going on so they sent us home with some clavamox.  Basically that is amoxicillin for cats.  He didn't get better.  He was hiding more and more so I took him for a second opinion at another vet further away.  They did some blood work and xrays and found a few damaged teeth and a throat infection and a gum infection... also known as stomatitis.  He had to have some teeth removed and he was put on a very strong antibiotic and pain meds.  He was good as new.

He was ok for about a year when he started to act weird again.  I called and got him back on meds again.  This went on for another year.  I was going back and forth between vet appointments and meds to the option of putting him to sleep.  I fought hard for him.  I wanted to do every last thing in order to make him comfortable and decided when the options started running out or it got too hard for him, that I would make that decision.

The end of June I brought him to Dr. Russo at North Heights Veterinary Clinic because he wasn't eating.  By this time, I was watering down soft food so he would just have to drink it, basically.  Dr. Russo was so kind.  Having been a volunteer in rescue, I remembered her from a foster cat I brought in to see her.  She checked Sam over.  She looked in his mouth.  Things weren't good.  She wanted to do some emergency surgery and booked us an appointment for the next morning.  I would have figured out a way to pay for that.  I went home and sat for a long time.  I cried.  I held him for a long time asking him to forgive me for keeping him in pain.  He didn't seem to know what I was saying, because he was too busy purring.  Always purring, that one.  I called the vet clinic back to cancel the appointment and make another for July 1.   The picture below is on our last night together. I took video so I could remember his purr forever and took a couple of pictures.  He was great at hiding his pain and always wanted to be by his mama.

I got him some special canned food and fed him as much as he would eat.  The next day was hard.  I kept saying to myself that he deserved a better life than what he was having, even if that meant not living.  He had a wonderful life.  He put up with so many things and changes.  I was happy to help him not be in pain anymore.

Sammy met Lacy at the Rainbow Bridge on the morning of July 1, 2014.  He was 15 years old.

Lily

So it has been a bit since I have written and I thought I would write about Lily.  She is a 2 year old calico that came from Florida.  Lily had 5 kittens that I fostered (see below post) and were all adopted.  She came to me from another foster home... they were going on vacation, so she came here.  Lily was a very shy, scared cat when she first came here.  She hid for 3 days.  Eventually she came out and began to explore.

A few weeks after she got here, she had to go in and get spayed.. no more babies for her!  She came home and regressed again... hiding.  That only lasted a day this time.  She healed up so nicely.

She met my cat Bing.  It was love at first sight.  They would hang out each night and it was cute to watch.
I did tell Bing that she wasn't staying.  The day came where I was to bring her to the adoption center.  I was having a very hard time with that.  I knew it was necessary as I couldn't keep her. She deserved better than to live here.  I was going to pack her up and bring her when I got a message that someone I knew wanted to foster to adopt her.  YES!! was my answer.  She is doing well so far and I hope everything works out. I miss her.  She's a sweet, wonderful girl.  She deserves a happy ending.  I will write about her again soon.

Florida in Wisconsin

I have FIVE kittens at my house right now.  Ella (fka daisy), Gus (fka Leo), Micky, Zoey and Pumpkin.  They are crazy cute!  Every time I go in the foster room, it's a symphony of purrs.  5 loud kitten purrs.  It's really cute.   They ALL are being adopted on Sunday.  The applications came in fast for them!  Zoey and Micky are heading together.  Here are some pictures....

Andi and Blaine were adopted today.  They were at another foster home who also has the fab 5's mama and Binx and Cinnamon (fka Si).  Cinnamon goes home on Saturday!  Binx will head to the adoption center soon for some extra love and mama needs to gain some weight and be spayed.  She might visit here while her foster mama is in Florida.  

There was one kitten that had to be left behind because she was sick.  She is all better now and working on a transport for her to get here.  Her name is Moo-Too or Moolan.  She is named after Dorian from www.yourdailycute.com 's cat Moo.  They look the same.  

She's about 7 months old or so and is a sweet girl.  She will be here soon (unless she gets adopted before that).  :)

Eastbound and down...loaded up and truckin ......

We are in the midst of a transport from Florida to Wisconsin.  25 cats and kittens.  Most of them from Broward Animal Control in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to several different rescues in the North and East.  32 drivers helping to make this happen!  I was lucky enough to be able to coordinate with the rescue I volunteer for to take in 9 kittens and one mama cat.

Blaine and Andi

Mama and her crew

Si

Binx 

These cats will be fostered by myself and my friend and fellow cat lady, Nicole.  They will hopefully find amazing homes and it will be fun to have kittens here again!  They are currently located in St. Louis in some really great foster homes for the week and they will resume travel on Saturday and be here Saturday night.  

You can read about the other cats and kittens by going to www.yourdailycute.com 

I am very excited to be a part of this and hopefully it won't be the last one.  I will be posting a lot more as they get here!  Stay tuned!

Florida

Last year in January, I helped 9 kittens come up from a shelter in Florida.  They have 'kitten season' all year long as they don't really have winter down there.  I became friends with Dorian, who runs the blog www.yourdailycute.com.  Her friend (and now mine too!) Stacey runs Good Karma Pet Rescue in south Florida (www.goodkarmapetrescue.org)  Together we picked out 9 kittens to send up here to the Frozen Tundra.

Word got out that these babies were heading up this way.  There were 4 additional cats that were added for other people along the way.  I started posting about them on the rescue website and Simba was wanted right away.  He would go home to his new family the moment he got here.  He was a sweet cat.  I fostered 4 of them and another foster home fostered the other 4.  I had ...

 Cody

 Emmie

 Ellie and Emmie

Dean

There were also Bingsley who was a black short hair, Martin and Marley who were graybies (as the gray babies were affectionately called), and Buzz who was a brown tabby.  They were all adopted within a month of being here.  Kittens are almost never heard of in Wisconsin in the winter.  It was nice to be able to help these kittens out.  

I am happy to say that I was able to help again this year!  The rescue agreed that we could take in 9 again this year including a mama cat with her kittens!  Here's a sneak peek at them!

Lily and Daisy are in the process of getting new names as the rescue already has cats with those names.

I will be posting about the cats when they arrive.  They are due to arrive Feb 15th.  There will also be some more exciting news then but you'll have to wait and see! :) (No, I'm not getting another cat haha)

The Chew

My best friend's barn cats each had a litter of kittens.  I asked if we could take them in and was given a 'yes' if I could be a foster home and find another.  I did both.  Thelma and Louise and their kittens came into care.  They were about 5 or so weeks old and some of them weren't doing so well.  I took Thelma and the 4 tiniest, sickest kittens.  I had 3 boys and a girl.  Louise went to another foster home with her kittens, also 3 boys and a girl.  I mentioned before that I had a tough time naming kittens.  They went nameless for a bit.  One of them I called batman because his ears were pointy and, well, he reminded me of batman.  It wasn't what I wanted to name him but it worked.

Einstein, Newton, Pascal and Archimedes

I finally decided on a name for my crew.  I decided to name them after the hosts of The Chew, a tv show that I am a big fan of.   Clinton Kelly, Daphne Oz, Mario and Carla.  Only 2 of them used their formal names.  Thelma was such a great mama to her babies.

I never had a mama cat before, so this was a new experience for me.  Thelma was such a great mama.  She was also such a loving cat.  She had a little bit of a kitty cold so she was getting some medicine to help her.  I really enjoyed watching her interact with the babies.  It also made for some great photo opportunities. 

The kittens grew and were starting to play and not needing their mom so much.  It was time for Thelma and Louise to head out to be spayed.  Then they both spent time at the adoption center to recover.  After that, they headed back to my friend's house to live.  They are so well taken care of and have the best life there.  A lot better than most inside cats have it.  They are well loved and protected.  

The kittens started getting crazy and it was about time for them to be spayed/neutered.  Pictured above are Daphne (black) and Carla (tabby).  

Mario had some really cool fur.  It was called Black Smoke.  It was so pretty and very unique.  Above is Daphne on right, Mario on left.

Daphne and Clinton were best friends and Mario and Carla were best friends.  They both were adopted in pairs.  It was pretty cool.  Clinton got pretty sick after he was adopted.  He later died, which is really sad.  He was such a wonderful, funny, loving kitten and had a wonderful home with his family, even if it was just for a short time.

I leave you with this last picture.  I sent in a picture of the pairs of cats to Twitter.  

I got that picture in return.  Daphne on the left, Clinton on the right..in both pictures.  I was so excited!  They are imitating the kittens lol.  It was a nice group of kittens and mamas and I am glad I could help my best friend with this.   

Randoms

I had a few cats that just came here to visit for the weekend or stay for a week for some social time.

 Jack and Jill came to me to stay for socialization.  Jack was outgoing but Jill was shy.  They both were getting over a cat cold and on meds.  They later went to the adoption center and were adopted by an awesome couple from Door County.  They live the good life now in a home with huge windows and an amazing view.

Cookie came to stay with me over a week just to get a break from things at the center.  She was the first foster cat I have had to find the window.  It's up higher than a normal window and usually I have kittens who can't figure it out.  Cookie was adopted by a volunteer's mother and has a cat brother.  She's doing well.

I am running out of foster cats.  It feels like I have fostered a lot more but I guess not.  Maybe it just seems like a lot.  I will have to think of something else to write about when I am done.  New adventures in rescue? My own cats?  I will have to wait and see what moves me.

Bridget Jones

There was an acquaintance of mine who knew I was a volunteer in rescue.  She had messaged me saying she found a kitten on the side of the road and it had bit her and could I take it in?  It was a big pain in the butt because she went to the emergency room to make sure she didn't have rabies from the bite.  That meant that either the kitten would have to be put down or we could take it but I would have to go to the vet 3 times in 10 days to make sure it was  fine.   When I went to meet her, there was this itty bitty kitten.  She was all of a pound, maybe.  I asked to see the bite, expecting to see an actual bite.  What I saw was a tiny scratch.  I rolled my eyes and took the kitten home.  She meowed and was annoying so I named her baby Bella 2.  I set up the kennel in my foster room and got her some food and water and litter and she was to camp for the night.

As you can see, I wasn't quite prepared for her arrival.  She did great though.  I took her in for her 3 checks and she was good to go.  She started gaining weight and her colors were coming out.  She was a really pretty cat.  There was one problem though.  Every time I called her Baby Bella, MY Bella would meow on the other side of the door.  So, I had to think of a new name for her.  I am the worst when it comes to naming cats.  I came up with Bridget.  That was the only name I could think of.

She was so tiny, but had such a huge personality!  Her colors were so unique, too!  She adored toys and loved being pet and brushed.  Soon after this, I added a second name to her list of names.

                                           Bridget Jones

Bridget's hair kept getting longer and she was growing a mane.  Turns out, she's a maine coon cat.  I don't know what that means but I do know, from checking it out, that their hair grows and changes colors throughout their life.  That's pretty cool.

Bridget was spayed and went to go live at the adoption center until she would be adopted.  I think Bridget is a very lucky cat.  She was adopted shortly after by my friend.  She has cat brothers and is the queen bee at her home :)  Here is a picture of her shortly after she went home.  So happy you are happy Bridget.

*Picture taken from my friend. lol  Bridget's new name is Bria.  Isn't she just beautiful?

Luna

When I first started volunteering at the rescue,  there was this cat there named Luna.  No one wanted to adopt her.  She was one of those cats that didn't get along very well with other cats and needed to be an "only".  I made it my mission to get this wonderful girl a home.  She deserved it and I was going to do it.  I posted a lot about Luna.  On the social media pages, in email, and had an ad in the local paper.  Then one day....  They showed up.  This couple who had no cats or dogs, had grown children and wanted to meet Luna!!  She put on a very good show for this couple.  She loved them and they loved her!  It was magic! They applied for her and I approved the application.  They took her home and started sending me updates the same day.  They said it was like she always lived there.  She made herself right at home.  She became a lap cat! She is the sunshine in their lives and they thank me, each time they write, for the wonderful blessing that is Luna.

                                               This is Luna's pre-adoption picture

               

                                           watching birds with her family

You can call me flower if you want to....

One of our volunteer's husbands works at a local garden center here.  On occasion they would find a random kitten or two in their greenhouse.  The rescue was asked if we could partner with them from time to time if there was a kitten in need and we agreed.  One day, during a really bad rain shower, I got a call about this little kitten who needed me.  My foster room was empty so I said yes.

This little spitfire kitten was in the crate.  She was orange.  I decided to name her Petunia because of where she came from.  She was a nervous, 5 month old kitten.

She had crusted on dirt on her nose and a scratch or two there also.  She spent most of her time in the crate, so I put a fluffy blanket in there.  She would let me pet her and spend time with her, so I knew she wasn't feral and that she would be adoptable.

Her fur was rough and she was underweight.  She needed some good, high quality food and some love.  She got both.  When she would let me, I would wash her nose with a warm wash cloth to try to get the dirt off.  I loved her coloring.

After a few days with me, she started to warm up and would come by me.  She was very cautious, though.  She was happy to have a warm, dry place to live and we were happy to have her.  She loved to play with this feather wand that I bought for my cats.  They didn't care for it but she LOVED that thing.

So much that I had to take it out of the room with me when I left.  She wouldn't do anything else if that thing was in there.  I called it her bff wand.

Bella is always such a little mom to the fosters we have here long term.  Petunia was a single foster and so after a month of being here, she got to hang with the big kids.  She loved tormenting Bing.  She also LOVED to play.  This kitten could not get enough of playing.  She would choose to play over eating or sleeping.  Her nose was almost all the way healed and soon it would be time to get her spayed.

She then went to the adoption center to wait for her forever home.  Now here comes the fun part.  My friend and her partner were there "just looking".   I knew what "just looking' meant because the first time I was there, I was "just looking" also.  I was excited because they had just adopted a kitten from our rescue not so long before that.  I knew what great people they were and I wanted them to "just look" at Petunia.  I had a secret plan.  I knew that once they met her, they would love her (and her story) and take her home.  My plan worked!   She would have a wonderful home to spend her life in.  She would have a couple of cat sisters to hang out with and I couldn't think of a more loving home for her.