She should never have asked Jane and me to go kitten-hunting with her.
OSG had her eye already on a foster-home candidate, a tortie girl, out in Otis Orchards, a small town near Spokane…the woman has a feral-cat feeding station which enables her to nab strays and get them altered and, if quite young, to get them forever-homes. She works with Petfinders.
We went out to the Spokane Animal Shelter, however, to check on a second candidate, who proved not to be there: but a beautiful brother-sister act was. They’d been moved in from another shelter, which was over-full, and they were the object of a lot of attention: very young kittens, kind of fog-colored longhaired tabby, probably cream-colored somewhere in their background; and high squee factor, ie—cute. Really cute. You just couldn’t take away one of that brother-sister act: sleeping in each other’s arms, the young lad acting as the pathfinder, sis as the faithful follower…the shelter has a great arrangement (actually donated by Comcast), two kitten/cat rooms, a sound-insulated area behind glass doors, where the cats live in their rather comfy, padded cages, where people can go and interact with the prospects on a nice tiled floor, take them out, hold them, and see how they act. Well, we told OSG she’d better put a hold on these two before we left or they wouldn’t be there another hour. And she did that.
So we went out to Otis Orchards, and yep, there was the tortie girl, about six to eight months, very wary, not trusting of strangers, cars, or life in general…but a sweet cat, mostly just wanting to hide and watch things. And yes, this was the little face that OSG had found on line, the cat that speaks to you through the pictures: and this girl went home with OSG…who’d already phoned OSGuy and asked if three was going to be a problem.
Back to the shelter, where by now the twins were collecting admirers, sound asleep, making a heart-shape of sleeping-kitteh hugs and with an ‘adopted’ sign on the cage. Filling out paperwork took a bit—but these kittehs come altered, with as many of their shots as age permits, and microchipped, so you do need to know which record belongs with whom.
By this time Jane and I were adamant that we were driving. OSG had been up all night with the pic of the tortie girl and just was meeting the wall that arrives when you’ve run on adrenaline all day: now she had her kittehs and we thought she should just sit in the back seat and let us get her home with them. So we got us back to our car, which we’d left in the Swinging Doors parking lot (we’d met for lunch and left from there,) and I drove OSG’s car back to her place and Jane followed us. OSGuy was home by then; and we had a chance to see the kittens come out and explore; but then we thought we should leave the happy family to their own devices and not have the distraction of too-many-people about while they all got acquainted.
So OSG, who started out after one, maybe two cats, now has three. But the twins really only count as one cat: they’re going to stick close to each other; and they’ll convince Miss Tortie that the food is good and the house is home. Kittens are good at that.
“Altered”, as in walking erect as hani? The word allows so many images to come to mind, not all so pleasant. Were they born disfigured? Were they not born perfect, exactly the way a cat should be? Why must we always resort to euphemisms? They were, or will be, neutered. Because the sheltered places they have in human lives, not undeservedly so if we want to cast our minds back to the history of the 1340’s and the services they so willingly perform for (primarily) agrarian communities, they can and will overpopulate rapidly. If we were to face that fact squarely, without lying to ourselves with euphemisms, we might also consider the number 7,000,000,000, seven billion! 😉 (Don’t mind me, it’s just my Asperger’s speaking.)
Heh. Carolyn, you “forgot” to add that if Jane had gotten her way, you would have returned home aa a three-cat household too.
I had a brother/sister act for my first pair. My two were born 24 hours before the other two kittens in the litter. Seemed like going against fate to split them up. I couldn’t do it. Unfortunately, “life” did. The boy (Jett)outlived his sister (Shadow) by 5 years. However, they were reunited again in 2009, and are waiting for me on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. Three is a nice number, actually. I had two for a while, but the world wanted me to have three. I’ve had three ever since, except briefly when I had two again, and for about a year I had four. I’ve found it is a good plan to space them out in age — mine are 12, 7 and 3. It spaces out the grief of losing them, as you inevitably will.
Oh, lordy. what a bliss. Where are the pictures, I ask you????? OSG, please bring an album in December.
Three’s a very good number in my opinion. Every household should have three. we started with two 12 years ago, Py and her evil brother, and then got down to one, and are now back up to three. Which one did Jane want?
Jane had her eye on a little purr machine of an 8 week old black plushy kitten. But that girl, like ours, had only just arrived and already had staff in love with her, which says that she would not languish long before finding a family.
Had Sharon hesitated in the least, she’d have missed those two, by those we saw circling the area: they were downright crowded by the time we got back…prospective adoptions. We’d increased their weekly adoption figure by a third by the time we got out, but we’re catted up, pretty thoroughly.
Now you can chime in: Sharon needs kitteh names.
We are going to keep Angie’s name unchanged: she’s our 6-month extraordinarily shy one. BTW, she hasn’t yet made an appearance today. We think she has inserted herself into the crawl space behind the dishwasher: it is truly the only place she can be at this point. She isn’t *inside* the sofa or recliner; not nestled inside the potted plant pots, not behind the living room books (or shelf).
While we know Angie is extraordinarily reclusive during mornings, I’m still worried and will be discussing strategies with our vet this afternoon.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 are nothing short of delightful. Name suggestions, please! He came home as “Rueger”; she as “Bella”. We’re not adverse to “Bella”, but are more than willing to entertain thoughts. “Morgaine” and “Winter” are the front runners so far for her, but the day is young.
You’d be surprised where they can get to. We found Efanor, after upsetting an entire motel, in the 5″ space which represented the distance behind the drawer backs in the dresser and the solid back wall of the dresser: he’d fallen asleep in his hidey hole. They can get into the motor compartment of the fridge. You might ask her former mama where her favorite spots are.
When we first moved to Maui, Snow was NOT pleased. As soon as we released her from the carrier, she zoomed though the condo and hid behind the washer/dryer set. Nothing would coax her out, and she meowed pitiably all the time. Eventually, DH got tired of the caterwauling, and made the dryer buzzer go off. She erupted from behind the machine, realized that no one was chasing her, and hey! There’s food here! And a litterbox! Things went better after that. I am not advocating you startle Angie out of her hidey-hole, but it was funny at the time.
@OSG — Your home is going to be a wonderfully interesting place !!! (and we’re going to need pictures of the trio !!!)
Congratulations to all humans and kittens involved! Yay for such great news!
This is a wonderful story, beautifully written. Thank God there are good people in the world.
Every cat I’ve had for the past 30 years-and I’m a multiple offender with as many as 5 at one time (it’s quite a story)-has been rescued from dire straits. Certain death a couple of times. I’m glad to see three more make it.
I’m reluctant to adopt another family member after Bentley, a 10 year presumptive Rag Doll. At my age. I worry about out living my cat but I suppose Bentley could out live me.
Just thinking out loud.
Phil Brown
Sorry. No name suggestions without pictures. (Can Jane help?) Rueger is a total non starter, sorry again. how about Bren? all that lovely hair? or Ben? or Bird? I like Bird, actually. Bird, Birdy, Birdest? Birdhoney? Honey B? you need to be able to generate those nicknames. That is one of the many excellent attributes of Eushu (which we watched the dragon movie again ourselves the other day 🙂
But pictures are seriously needed. The little girl, I am not so sure, but maybe that’s not so hard.
I am in mind of the day we brought Py and Koki home. We went out to buy kitten stuff and couldn’t find them anywhere when we got back. Eventually we realized they had gotten lost inside the sleeper sofa,which is one of the places where I gather Angie was searched for. They eventually found their way out when hungry enough. But I was so glad when they outgrew that entrance. I believe I remember Eushu was up inside the chair, once. They will do that. They feel safe there.
OOh I can’t wait for pictures.
Wonderful news! Congratulations to OSG on the new arrivals!
Heh, Goober got his name from hiding behind a drawer of a built-in dresser. I knew he couldn’t have gotten far, because the bedroom door had been closed. Then heard the meowing; oh, the drama! Then, “You’re such a Goober!” and it stuck.
So, here’s hoping the shy little girl will blossom into a happy, more sociable kitty once with the twosome.
Hmm. Kittens, foggy tabby twins, brother and sister.
Hansel and Gretel? Hahaha!
Adonis and Artemis?
Umber and Sienna? (Hmm, Umber has always seemed somber to me, but Sienna’s pretty.)
Ochre and Sienna? (Better, and might have Ogre as a nickname, hope the personality doesn’t get grumpy.)
Frère and Soeur? (OK, a bit generic.) (Hmm, must re-find the oe ligature.)
My memory says there’s a Germanic folklore pair too, maybe among the Norse gods. Probably a Celtic pair.
Angie sounds like a nice name unless she renames herself. Angie might suit her fine.
My own suggestion for coaxing out a terribly shy and frightened kitten who needs to learn she can belong permanently? Sweet talk and offers of food and drink just apparent and out of reach enough that her path back to the hidey-hole can be prevented in a non-scary way when she does make a dash for the food.
That, or let her come out on her own. The trouble with the latter is that a *very* reclusive little one may take a long, long time to coax out on her own, and may go right back to “safety.” The key is just how chronically scaredy-cat she is. I’m a firm believer, though, that even the shyest, most skittish cat, and certainly a kitten, just needs to know that there’s real love and inclusion instead of “the big monster two-legs might *eat* mee!” (Or other imagined fears.) Having the two kittens should help if they want to make friends, and kittens usually do. 🙂
Congratulations!
(You know, I didn’t plan on having grayscale / monochrome black and white cats. It just happened like that.)
Mmmm… Teh Intarwebz comes up with the twin Norse god/goddesses Frey and Freya. Maybe too close for comfortable naming, even if they are twins. Maybe you can steal names from How to Train Your Dragon!
Cloudy names? Nimbus… Cirrus… Fog… Thunder (especially if they purr a lot!) Cloud? (I blame CJ for that one!)
A HAPPY KITTEH DANCE for OSG. Names …..hmmm….our kittehs often seem to name themselves. Friendly came because we called her ‘the friendly kitty’ because she loved people (not cats) KikiLaSois was named because we had been watching Kiki’s Delivery Service and our little girl flew through the air….also because Collette had a cat named Kiki…the LaSois came from a fur like silk. Aloysius is named after Sebastion Flyte’s teddy. It seemed appropriate
@BCS…You are absolutely right about shy cats becoming acclimated. It has taken Friendly two years to get used to Kiki and Aloysius. Now she sits with the other kittehs both with her humans and together on the couch.
Enjoy all the new kittehs, all of you.
OSG reports Angie was in the dishwasher underside, is extracted, vetted, purring and shut in the bathroom.
And just a note on our own: discussion re Bengal crosses with Angie’s rescuer-mom turned up some useful info that sent us to the vet, re irritable bowel syndrome with that breed on a food-change. We gave Shu a steriod, which he will be on for 10 days, then tapering off, and we have a very happy kitteh.
For those of you who have struggled with pilling a cat—there is a product called Greenies pill-kibble, which is a salmon kibble with a hollow middle: put the pill in there. Our only problem will be telling Shu the fancy 10.00 a packet kibble will not continue indefinitely. He loves it, and crunches the pill up quite happily.
And Sei has started wanting lap time every evening. He believes as an article of kitteh-religion, subhead 5, that the request to get into my lap must be preceded by a leap atop the telly-table, and going to my side of it, then standing there and looking my way, then being told to get down: then he will come to me, sure he has my attention, and sit and look hopefully up at me. I then have to pat the chair and ask him to get up. Ritual matters with Seishi. He’s a very mannerly cat. Fortunately the bedroom is simpler. He just has to get into my working chair, then onto the window sill, then into my working chair again, and then leap to the bed and get my attention.
Hmm. Both rituals seem to involve getting up on a level from which he can easily check your lap or bed, from a little distance. As these have been Ysabel’s territory since he came to live with you, maybe he’s checking that she’s not ‘in residence’ to object to his encroachment, before he jumps up and comes into reach?
I think you’re right.
lovely news! smoke and cloud or clouds of smoke or something smokey, cloudy, would be pretty, but I expect things will suggest themselves with more familiarity!
looking at a selection of pets needing homes here, was shocked to see two horses – but of course in a recession, horses will be the first to lose their homes. terribly sad.
Thank you, everyone.
Backstory: OSGuy and I lost our 2 beloved cats of many years on October 2nd. The cause was unrelated: chronic diseases, that we had been managing at home for many months and years. I think they decided it was time to go wait for us at the Rainbow Bridge — together.
We had to put them to sleep — there was absolutely no choice, and we simply could not wait longer as both were starting to suffer. Emily had hours left, and Katie, maybe a week if that.
To lose one would have been heartbreaking, but both within an hour of each other — we have been beyond devastated. Neither one of us has been sleeping; we’ve both cried and cried, and I have been having non-cardiogenic chest pain — the same pain I has for several months after my mother passed away.
Grief will do that.
Carolyn very kindly agreed to write a beautiful tribute to Emily and Katie like she did for Jane’s dear Efanor. But, I couldn’t quite get my act together through the grief — I kept delaying giving her the info she needed — then Ysabel had to leave us to join the others at the Rainbow Bridge.
So, that’s the backstory of the posts here from a month ago. So many of us have lost our babies recently, including Smartcat and so many others.
Phil, thank you especially for your post in this thread: all of our babies are humane society or rescue kitties, or they adopt us after being abandoned. Abandoned babies break our hearts, but this says it best: “Saving just one cat won’t change the world — but, surely, the world will change forever for that one cat.”
It’s so kind and thoughtful of you to remember all of us who have lost our pals lately.
We never forget those who are gone; I think they give us the strength and courage to adopt new buddies.
We have all rescued animals. Several of them have found us, some came from shelters. It breaks my heart to think of what these babies have suffered. The joy comes in knowing that we are giving them cherished, wonderful lives.
I have no suggestions for names; I’m sure they will tell you when you find their true names.
love……….s.
I ran across this on Patricia McConnell’s site. Wonderful writer, generally about dogs and their relationship with humans, but this is applicable to anyone who has lost a pet.
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/love-guilt-and-putting-a-dog-down.html
Thank you, philosopher. That is wonderful, and expresses so many truths beautifully. I have saved the link.
Yes, we’ve been wracked with guilt even though logically I knew nothing more could have been done. Indeed, neither Emily nor Katie would have survived as long as they did without wonderful vet care & abundant TLC. Neither would have Ysabel.
Love the Sei rituals of approach. And am waiting for pictures of the new babies 🙂
I am so glad that OSG was able to add kitteh-love back into her home! And that your own household is settling in after the terrible loss. Love and pets to all, and yes, looking forward to many photos.