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Since it's a holiday weekend, and I'm full of turkey and squash dressing, I'm going to skip the serious blogging and just share an update about my kittens. (See my previous post - http://community.eharlequin.com/content/nameless-0)
I finally named the kittens. The red tabby is named Cody and the brown tabby is named Mac. They're both utterly adorable, although I could be prejudiced. Very sweet-natured babies, and remarkably well-behaved. They play like demons and then, when they run out of gas, they both pile into my lap for their naps.
I wish I could figure out how to put pictures of the kittens here on the page, but since I can't, I'll do the next best thing: links!
This is Cody:
(sorry, they are just too cute Paula, I had to paste them in, and I'll be sending you a how to document via email for kittie updates - Jayne)
Notice that Cody seems to have a thumb in that photo. He's a polydactyl, commonly known as a "Hemingway" cat, thanks to Ernest's love for cats with extra toes. Cody has six toes on each front paw, which makes him look like he has thumbs. He's completely adorkable, as my niece says.
And this is Mac:
Mac's a total sweetheart, very gentle and very affectionate. And beautiful, too.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, they're rescues, two of three kittens born to a feral mother in the basement of my day job office. Another woman in my office rescued the third kitten and named him Boudreaux (Boo). He's a black long-hair and cute as can be. The mother, we trapped, had spayed and re-released into the neighborhood to hopefully live out the rest of her life in relative feral happiness.
There are so many cats out there having kittens, few of whom make it into adulthood in the wild. If you're thinking about owning a cat, please consider a rescue. There are dozens or more in your local shelters just waiting for a good home. And be smart—spay and neuter. If you want kittens, there are plenty who need good homes. When you let your cat have kittens of her own, you may be depriving those little homeless fellows of a potential loving family.
Paula Graves
Coming in 2010 from Harlequin Intrigue: COOPER JUSTICE
Case File: Canyon Creek, Wyoming - Jan 2010 Chickasaw County Captive - Feb 2010
One Tough Marine - August 2010 Bachelor Sheriff - September 2010
www.paulagraves.com
I feed the stray cats in my
I feed the stray cats in my neighborhood. I would like to spay them, but they are not approachable to get them into a box and I wouldn't have anyplace to put them to recouperate after surgery. The vets in France give them back to you before they are completely out of the anesthesia. So I feed them and worry about them.
"Saving the future, one presidential edict at a time."
March's Member of the Month--2008
Thanks for the update!
Thanks for the udpate on the fur babies; I'm glad they are doing well. I do recall that the mum was spayed and released--thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm almost rabid about spaying/neutering and I'm dead set against buying a kitten (or puppy) from a pet store, as they come from kitten/puppy mills. Rescue and adoption definitely is the way to go! I could get on my soap box about animal rescue and care, but I don't think anyone would appreciate that here on this blog. LOL.
-Kim
Fuzzy Tales: http://keas-fur-family.blogspot.com/
You just have to do what you can
I understand your situation, Fake Frenchie. We were lucky--there's a vet in Birmingham (where I work) that was willing to spay the cat for a reduced rate and keep her overnight until she could recover.
Kea, I've had dozens of cats over the years, and almost all of them were strays or shelter cats. Actually, I seem to be a cat magnet, so most of them were true strays that wandered up and needed someone to care for them. Nine of them were feral kittens/young cats. Not all of the ferals survived to adulthood--one died almost immediately of distemper, and another had to be euthanized after testing positive for feline leukemia. Another stray, not a feral, also had feline leukemia and had to be put to sleep when she was only weeks old.
In the case of the two kittens I have now, I call them gifts from God, literally.
You see, my mom, my sister and I live together in the same house, along with my sister's two school age daughters, and at the time we blended our households, after my father's death and my sister's divorce, we each brought multiple cats into the household. Somehow, those cats, who were all adults, managed to stake out their territories and come to a sort of peaceful truce, but it was still a lot of cats in one house.
Most of them were older cats and have since passed on. After three of my old cats died within a couple of years of each other, I was really wanting to get a new kitten, particularly a Siamese or Siamese mix, since one of the cats I'd lost was my beloved Simi, a beautiful Siamese mix who'd been my companion for almost fifteen years. But my mom liked having the household cat total back down to three. So I made her a deal. I wouldn't go get another cat. But if one happened to me, I would take it.
Well, Mac and Cody happened to me not long after that. And as I told my mom, "I have to take them. God sent them to me."
Fortunately, she's about as much in love with them as I am. So it's all good.
Paula Graves
Coming in 2010 from Harlequin Intrigue: COOPER JUSTICE
Case File: Canyon Creek, Wyoming - Jan 2010 Chickasaw County Captive - Feb 2010
One Tough Marine - August 2010 Bachelor Sheriff - September 2010
www.paulagraves.com
Kittens
Thanks for the update on your kitties. I'm so glad they are doing well.
Linda Henderson
OMG SO CUTE!!!!
I took in a stray calico last summer and she had 4 kittens all of which stayed with me. I now have 8 cat fur babies and 1 dog fur baby. I think I should qualify as a zoo!
Your little fur babies are darling especially Cody! There was a kitten a few blocks up from us that had the extra toes. I think it gives them character!
~My book blog: http://achickwhoreads.blogspot.com
Feline leukemia
Vets here don't automatically put down cats that are positive for feline leukemia. Years ago, when my DD was small, there was a cat in our neighborhood living under a neighbor's shed and taking down birds at my birdfeeder. She was skinny and skittish, except to my DD, who started petting her. We watched her for a while before I decided that if DD was going to try to pick her up, etc., I had to make sure she'd had shots and get her spayed before she had kittens.
Much to our surprise, we found out that she was a he, and that he'd already been neutered (which was why there was no obvious maleness about him). He got shots for rabies and distemper, but they told us he was already infected with feline leukemia and would probably live for from 6 months to up to 2 years. Whoever had owned him and gotten him neutered had probably dumped him when he tested positive for feline leukemia, which is very sad.
At that point, even though I was mildly allergic to cats, we took him in so that every cat in the neighborhood wouldn't wind up with the disease as well. With a lot of TLC, he lived for 6 years with us and was healthy up until the last little bit. I was pleased that we were able to give him a good and longer life than he would have otherwise had. Of course, he could not have lived openly with healthy cats because, even with the vaccine, they can still catch it with prolonged contact, but I have known fosters for Shamrock who have successfully kept cats that were positive in the same house as healthy cats, just carefully separated from them. It's okay for them to be around dogs as they can't pass the disease to them.
I was pleased that we'd taken him in because he turned out to be a really great cat, very loving and with a lot of personality.
Adopt a shelter pet. Save a life; gain a best friend for life.
View my DD's very public video acting debut at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E-v05kMucw.
July 2009 Member of the Month
You are all such wonderful ladies.
I love to hear about so many people taking such good care of sick or homeless kitties. There is an ASPCA commercial that plays in my area that really depresses me and this blog lifted my spirits.
I am currently looking for another kitty and will definitely contact my local rescue group.
Angel66
"I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." Nora Roberts
www.angelinabarbin.blogspot.com
What adorable kittiens
Cody looks like our Dash who weighed 2.2 pounds when we brought him home as a stray. Someone had dumped him at my sister's farm and the dogs had him up a tree. We agonied over naming him but Came up with Dash, The Incredible Pest. He's now 17 pounds and lives up to his name. His two older sisters are still not sure about this in your face guy. Even after a number of years there is still alot of hissing and spitting in our household.
February 2009 Member of the Month
When I get a little money I buy books, and then if any is left I buy food and clothes..-- Erasmus
Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause the most inconvenience.--Pam Brown
We have rescued Maine Coon
We have rescued Maine Coon (cats) and shelties (dogs) in the past. We are now down to three cats and one dog, but at one point we had four cats and three dogs. Sadly two of our rescues had underlying health issues and died early on. But we have had one other cat and two other dogs pass through the house. I'm I big fan of rescue work. Did you know that many Maine Coons are polydactyl? Well, there is your bit of trivia for the day.
I love the pics of your kitties (thanks, Jayne, for getting the pics on this page--you rock). Thanks for rescuing these kittens and finding a way to capture the mother cat in order to stop at least one feral cat from continuing to reproduce.
Nancy
January 2009 Member of the Month
Participant in Date with Destiny 2009
Participant in Pass the Plot Spring 2009