Hello. I'm a crazy cat lady. I especially feel like a CCL when I'm standing in my kitchen and I look around and I see one old cat on the counter eating his fish only diet and another old cat on the other counter eating his no-grain turkey diet and one floppy foster cat sprawled out in the middle of the floor looking at both their tails waiting for seconds and another foster cat sulking off in the corner waiting for ham handouts or an opportunity to swat any male cats that dare come near her.
Yes, that's what my mornings are like.
Oh, and then there are the cat food costs. The old, OLD cat cannot eat beef, chicken, rice or corn so I'm left with a brand of canned food that costs nearly $2/can and he eats AT LEAST a can a day. Cat food with names like "Polynesian BBQ" and "Meow Luau". The other old cat also has a special canned food diet and it cannot be sniffed, licked or near the other old cat. Then there are the fosters. The old shelter provided cat food but the new shelter doesn't. Fine. I'm okay with that. The problem is that I feel guilty giving my cats top of the line foods and giving the fosters cheap cat food so they too are getting fancy organic kibble. I feed them in the master bath and that was working out okay until old cat Gumby found out about it and started sneaking in to eat it at night and then apparently told Frasier about it and Frasier decided not only to sneak in at night but to poop on the tile floor when he found out I'd put the food up beyond his reach. Also, I was reminded that young cats are in fact able to bite through food bags and make a huge mess. How had I forgotten that they can do that?
Inspite of it all. I love them. They are fluffy and soft and they purr and they do silly things and they cuddle with me and my kids and they mostly take care of themselves. Yes, there are many days when I'm about to take Frasier in to euthanize him but there are just as many days when I see a nice old cat that isn't doing much harm.
I haven't been so good at promoting my foster cats which is a shame since I did so well with the kittens and they really don't need any promoting; their cuteness sells itself. Currently I have 2 adult fosters. Tonks has been with us since November 10th and Odin has been with us since December 9th. The shelter provides monthly opportunities to showcase the cats at adoption events but unfortunately I missed them because a) Tonks is not keen on cages and strangers; in fact she would hiss and possibly disembowel all living things around her in that situation and b) Odin was still getting over Calici virus when the last one came around.
So the challenge is, how get them adopted?
Well, I wrote earlier that I thought Tonks had found a potential adopter. That unfortunately fell through because the adopter had very little experience with cats and expected Tonks to immediately fall in love with her male cat. When that didn't happen immediately she felt sad and Tonks came back to us. Really, I'm glad she is back with us. She deserves a more cat experienced human as she is a complicated gal. I need to have someone help me re-write Tonk's Petfinder description. The one I wrote for her doesn't really tell her story or give a potential adopter much of an idea of what she's really like, unlike the wonderful Petfinder description for our other foster, Odin, which was written by his previous foster mom.
Odin really is a marketable guy; I don't think I have to do much more for him. In fact, someone is coming over to meet him tonight and once he flops on her lap its a done deal*. I feel a bit bad for Tonks because she made friends with our foster kitten and we adopted her off and now, just as she's starting to trust and play with Odin, he'll be leaving her as well. If Odin does get adopted I'm going to try to find a foster at the shelter that is a good enough match with Tonks that I can possibly get the 2 adopted off together. That would make Tonks the happiest girl in the world. Either that, or I think Tonks would prefer that I never bring another new feline into the house and while I'm at it get rid of my old cats. She'd really like to control the humans and the house single-pawedly if she had a choice.
*I wrote this earlier. Odin is getting adopted! I'm so happy for him but a little sad because he is currently playing fetch like a dog with Zoe and she (and he) are really having a great time.
Frasier
Gumby
Tonks
Odin
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