Annabel Lee and Lenore, Returned

Unfortunately, Annabel Lee and Lenore's new home didn't work out. Their new human had a bad allergic reaction to the kitties and it set off an asthma attack.

So, for now- the girls are back in town. Their profiles on the St Francis website have been reactivated so that we can work on finding them a new forever home. Until then, the ladies are rediscovering the house and getting back on good terms with the housecats and the current fosterlings.

Cowmeowflage

Cowmeowflage by Kitler

Holiday Adoptions

Mina Harker and Dorian Grey

Mina and Dorian have been adopted together and will be picked up tomorrow by a lovely couple. I am so very happy this bonded pair of siblings will get to stay together.

Until then, Mina is busily spending as much time as possible on my face and overlapping my personal space. I'm fine with this right up until the time she puts her nose inside my nose. Currently, she is sitting on my shoulder like a terrible parrot while I type this.

This makes it pretty hard to type, you know. I put up with a lot.

Heathcliff

Heathcliff was adopted and picked up by his new moms today. He's settling into his new digs and even sent me the following 'letter' and selfie:

Hey foster mommie! I have had a full day...lots of new places n sounds. I am a lil skidish but am being a good boy. I just had dinner and played with a fishing pole toy n gettn used to my new digs. I will keep u posted. I hope u arent sad!

Well, this may be the first time I have received a letter from a cat, but I do hope it isn't the last. This little fella was such a sweetheart and I can't even begin to say how happy I am that he has such a loving new home.

Happy holidays!

A Portrait of Dorian Grey

At first blush, this kitten is beautiful. He started off a little bit shy when he first arrived and I've discovered that his skittish behavior is triggered by loud people who are moving around a lot. However, as soon as everyone settles down, Dorian Grey is ready to make some friends.

The genetics of cats are a fascinating thing and there are so many factors to consider. With stray and feral kittens we very rarely can know what parents (other than the mother) were involved and what the father might have looked like. One litter of kittens can have multiple fathers, which makes things even more difficult. What I can tell you about Dorian is that he is decidedly grey. His coat looks similar to that of a Russian Blue but he has an elongated face which is reminiscent of Asian cat breeds like the Korat cat. In bright light, you can see distinct stripes on his tail which may point to a tabby pattered cat in his ancestry. Regardless, he's glorious.

He's also a very friendly little man. While his sister Mina Harker is almost aggressively friendly and will climb up to rub herself on faces, Dorian is a bit more laid back. He's content to receive love while sprawled out along side you on the couch or to drape himself across your lap.

Mina Harker and Dorian Grey are a beautiful and friendly bonded pair of siblings. I'd very much like to find them a home together. It will need to be the right home though... it will need to be a home where someone will be happy with two kitties that will adore you, sometimes getting in your face about how much they like you.

These two have a lot of love to give. I just need to find them someone who will love them back just as much.

Mina Harker is a Face Cat

Some people think cats are standoffish and not as friendly as man's best friend, which just means they have never met a Face Cat. Have you ever met a face cat? No? Let me tell you about Face Cats...

Mina Harker wants to be close to you...

What I mean by close is mostly: overlapping.

I have to tell her she is too close when her nose is *inside* of my nose. I'm not that kind of cat lady.

Want to read a book? Ha! Face Cat needs your face and that book is in the way of what this kitten needs. Want to watch TV? Ha! A Face Cat needs all of your attention.

Face Cat also learned how to tap the phone to take photos and how to swipe through photos. I found this alarming. Thankfully Mina Harker is a Face Cat and needs my face, otherwise I might be more worried. If she learns how to open cans though... my days may be numbered.

If you need a lover, Mina Harker and Dorian Grey might just be the kittens for you. While Mina wants to share the same space that your head is occupying, Dorian is cool with laying on your lap or just chilling out beside you with his head on your leg. They are both such beautiful cats and so ridiculously friendly, well, someone is going to be a lucky pet owner if they adopt this pair.

 I'll try to get some pics of Dorian tonight if Mina does not swipe the phone...

League of Extraordinary Kittens: Mina Harker and Dorian Grey

Mina Harker

Clad in black and sharp in tooth and claw, this girl kitten is approximately 8-10 weeks of age. She is a touch shy at first, but warmed up after a few minutes of sitting still she became curious and approached me. Within moments, she had climbed into my lap for cuddles and the booping of snoots. She took quite a while to examine me, and when she was done I started with the petting. And then the purring began. She is all black in coat with just a small cluster of a few white hairs at her throat.

"I feel a wonderful peace and rest tonight. It is as if some haunting presence were removed from me. Perhaps..." Mina Harker's Journal, 5 October 1891.

Dorian Grey

Dorian Grey is a Russian Blue mix with a coat like smoke. He is at first quite timid and was less brave than his sister. After the liberal application of cat treats, blinky eyes, cat toys and soft words, he finally approached me. His fur is amazingly soft. It took a few tries to get more that just a single pet. After another couple dozen minutes we settled into an amicable arrangement of gentle petting and soft purring.

“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.” The Picture of Dorian Grey

Caramel and the Caramelites

This past March I got back into the kitten saving business after a few years off. I started out with Caramel.

Caramel was living in the feral colony at my condo complex. She was always around, she was lovely and she was very, very pregnant. She looked like she had swallowed a whole cantaloupe. Luckily, Caramel was also pretty friendly. In my visits to the feral colony she would twine between my feet and once even brought me a dead squirrel. At that point I was pretty sure she was people friendly enough to be re-homed after her kittens were born.

Step one was to trap Caramel. This took one trap, twenty minutes and a can of wet food. In short, it wasn't very hard. Next, I installed her in the Kittenasium, which is also known as my screen porch. I made her comfortable, tricked out an old dog crate to be a nice spot for giving birth, and then we waited. Impossibly, she just kept getting bigger. By the time she finally had her kittens she was comically big. 

After almost 2 weeks of Kitten Watch 2015, I came home to find my pretty lady with four tiny floof balls. 

They four babies started out as Snickers, Rolo, Left Twix and Right Twix. (left to right below)

The names showed that each had a little bit of Caramel in them. Now, 10 months later all four have forever homes. Here's a few baby pictures:

Rolo was a grey marble tabby. I fell in love with her and had a total foster fail. Foster fail means that she never left my house. Her name is now Scully and she is my boon companion. She sleeps next to me, sits next to me and when I paint she sits on the back of my chair and watches over my shoulder.

Next was Snickers. Snickers was a grey tiger tabby girl. Her name is now Isolde and she is now the companion of a young man named Tristan. 

And then we had a pair of ginger tabby boys. We had a pretty hard time telling them apart because they looked so similar. So, we called them Left Twix and Right Twix. 

This pair is now named Cheeto and Dorito. They live with Mira and her son Zyan. Apparently they have a pretty great life.

Mama kitty Caramel now lives with Sue and her other rescue kitty, Sable. From feral colony to beloved pets, things works out pretty well for Caramel and the Caramelites.

A Forever Home: Lenore & Annabel Lee

Well, Lenore and Annabel Lee had a date today with a potential adopter. The fantastic news is that as of next weekend, they will have a new home. Jon, their new adoptive dad enjoyed both the kittens and has already been out shopping since the visit ended. Jon's going to spend the next week getting ready and kitten proofing his home. Annabel Lee is going to be fixed on Tuesday and will have a few days to heal here with me. Next weekend, these best friend kittens are heading off into the sunset for a new life. Jon is one very lucky human. Lenore and Annabel are going to have a great life with him.

Linton, a healthy boy.

Last night mister Linton learned the joy of fuzzy blankets. As you can see, he is quite content!

After a follow up visit to the vet, we know that Linton has responded well to the antibiotics and other medications. He no longer has a sad butt. He's put on weight, is no longer dehydrated and now enjoys playing like a happy, healthy kitten. Because that is exactly what he is.

He does still have a slight limp from the damage in his ankle bones, but after a week and a growth spurt he is now putting weight on his paw. He gets around fine, climbs the cat tree and plays just like the rest of the kittens and does not seem slowed down at all by his impediment.

Linton, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff and Annabel Lee are all getting fixed next week. After a few days of healing, they will be entirely ready to go off to new homes!

From sick and listless, Linton now seems an entirely different kitten. He is sweet, playful and happy. He's also a cuddle bug and is looking forward to a place with a fuzzy blanket of his very own.

Catbooks: Funding the Cattery

Available titles

To help supplement the cost of life and pets, I do side work as a calligrapher and have an Etsy store where I sell prints of my artwork. You should shop there- lots of fun geeky gifts made by your friendly neighborhood kitten wrangler.

I also now make Catbooks.

Catbooks are felt handmade cat toys and each book is stuffed with two pockets of catnip for maximum literary enjoyment. Right now I'm just making them for friends but I'll probably start taking orders at some point soon and add them to the Etsy store.

Until then, this both amuses me and helps to support the kitties and their keeper. New titles coming soon.

Already sold

Naughty Lenore caught reading catp0rn

Cat tested

Kitten approved

Adventures in Being a Cat Lady: Shopping

Kitten dinner scrum. Top left Lenore (no tail), clockwise: Linton,
Catherine Earnshaw, Annabel Lee and Heathcliff.

Yesterday I went to KMart to pick up cat food. A lot of cat food. Somehow both the kitten and adult kibble bins were down to crumbs and the canned food supply dwindled to just two cans. Caring for  5 growing kittens and my 3 cats requires a ridiculous amount of dry food, wet food, litter, litter deodorizer, paper plates, and air fresheners. I end up buying most things in bulk, because I will use it eventually.

Anyway, K-Mart was having some good kibble sales, so off I went. I checked out with 16lbs of adult kibble, 12lbs of kitten kibble, 32 cans of wet food in various meaty flavors, a package of 100 paper plates, 2 bags of tortilla chips, and some air freshener wax melts. While ringing up my items, the young man behind the register seemed to frown a bit, and twice started as if he was about to speak, but stopped himself.

As he was bagging the purchase, he shyly said to me: "If you don't have any family, my church does a great Christmas dinner and you would be welcome to join us. They have ham, turkey, spaghetti and lots of other stuff. It's a nice way to spend the holiday."

Oh God, I have been taken for a crazy cat lady.

I wanted to argue back that I had friends, I had family and I wasn't just a cat lady... but he had been so sweet and sincere I just couldn't. Instead, I asked him the name of the church and then thanked him for his kind offer, assuring him I'd think about it and promising not to spend the holiday alone.