Welcome, new torties

Since I lost LilyBlue in July I’ve had it in mind that I wanted torties back in my life.  If you’ve ever had one, you know why.

So at the end of October I welcomed two Catonsville PetSmart cats into my home.  They are five months old, kitten energy from one end of the day to the other, and huge purrs.

Meet Sassy:

and Sabrina:

They spent a week in new-cat jail and then came out to surprisingly little drama.  Caspar and Rosie don’t much care that they exist, unless they try to get too much in their business, but it has been a very peaceful transition.  They still go into their room at night so that Caspar and Rosie can have unstressful access to the bed and I can sleep without midnight zoomies.

Lily Blue 2007-2022

All my cats have been memorialized here since I started this blog, so I had to come back and include Lily.

She was an extra special personality who went her own way and was intimidated by nothing, which meant that she had that extra bit of fight that made it more difficult to decide it was her time.  She was essentially starving to death due to a mysterious digestive problem that manifested itself in April and was not amenable to anything we tried to treat it with.

She will be greatly missed.

Retiring

After going to the cat room for something like twelve years, I’m retiring! at least for now.

My October surgery was postponed till November because of additional insurance hoops, and by December I found out that the cat room staff had grown to EIGHTEEN volunteers.  This is delightful to contemplate, and also let me give myself permission to retire from it.

I’ll stay in touch with the volunteer coordinator and if there is ever a critical need I’ll respond to it.  If that happens, some kitty faces might appear here again.

Meanwhile – if you are in the Catonsville area there are always cute cats at the Petsmart, and if I find myself with a feline vacancy I’ll be heading over there myself as a customer.

Keep doing the good work you do!

All the worthy cat volunteers I’ve become acquainted with over the years are still at it, over to the right in the list of links.

Meow!

Outgoing

Only two cats in the room yesterday when I stopped in.  This outgoing little one, about six months old, came in without a name, but I quickly named her Marilyn, after a famous singer, because she sang to me the entire time I was there.

“Oh dear, was I out of tune?”

She is going to make some home considerably more lively.

This fellow, Jack, had less to say, but he was equally active, playing all around his cage with everything available.

Jack has only one eye but that didn’t slow him down.  His paperwork said five months but he seems older than that to us.  He was very busy.

I’m outgoing from the cat room for a couple of months, because assuming the insurance company stops playing reindeer games I’m having surgery in two weeks and will not be able to do the bending and so forth needed to keep up with the work there.  I’ll be doing enough bending at home taking care of my own!  See you then, and keep taking care of the kitties!

INCOMING

Most times, it makes me really happy to see this.  At the moment, it makes me a little uneasy, because I know there are many many cats who need to be here, and because I know that rescues throughout the mid-Atlantic are receiving bunches of cats from shelters in Louisiana.  So at the moment when I look at this, all I can think is, “INCOMING!”

The few, the small

Kittens continue to fly out of the cat room on weekends!  Today there were three.

This little guy had come in with a sister who was quickly adopted.  He’s the cutest little guy and it won’t be long before someone wants a house panther.

These two really pretty girls are a little hand shy, but once you start petting them they realize they like it.

 

Not out of order

A quiet morning in the cat room.  Well, except for this little girl, who wanted to tell me how it is every second that I wasn’t holding her.

She’s going to make some home quite lively.  She came in with a brother who was quickly adopted, so she’s looking for a new friend.

These two guys were new as of yesterday and still had one another.  They did want to be out and about but didn’t yell quite as loudly as the littlest one.

“Lady, you aren’t petting us enough.  We give you the stink eye.”

Arizona is still there, and very sweet.  I hope she gets her new home soon, she’s such a nice girl.

Everyone from last week was adopted, except Tula who went to another store.  Not too shabby!

Hello out there

More screamy kittens this week.  Actually, really just this guy.

He came with a couple of siblings but he’s the last one, so he has nothing to do except yell at me and tear up his cubby.  Purrs like a fire engine too.

These two girls were quite lively but, unusually for our kittens, backed away from me when I cleaned for them, so I can’t tell you much about their personalities.

There was also a pretty little grey girl kitten, who was eating when I went around with the camera and so didn’t get her close-up.

Arizona is back and no longer squinting!

This super pretty and sweet little Princess is sure to find a home quickly.

And sweet Tula, who is way too fat and on prescription food, loves to be petted.  With love and attention to distract her from the bowl, and a restricted diet, she will regain her ability to be active, and she adores that love and attention.  I hope someone will come along who falls in love with her sweet personality and is willing to work with her to improve her condition!

Helloooooo

As soon as you open the door to the cat room, the kittens start yelling at you. Pet me! Play with me! Take me out!

Despite this, I have to save them for last and get the adults’ spaces cleaned out first, if for no other reason than that the kittens would need to be cleaned again after I cleaned the adults…

Juniper and Arizona are still with us.

Isn’t Juniper beautiful? She looks like a painting. She is very sweet – I tried to be sure to sit down with her a little and give her some pets. She briefly came out, looked out the door of the room, and decided to go back to her place.

Arizona is squinting her right eye, so she has a little bit of a skeptical look. She likes attention, but easily gets overstimulated and wants to nip or swat you, especially if she thinks you’re withdrawing your hand from scritching her head.

This little sport was the last one of a set of two or three, his name for some reason was Giraffe and he was sweet and friendly and also quite lively. His facial marking looks like he lost patience after they painted the stripe between his eyes, and turned his head, so his nose only got painted on one side.

These two boys were noticed to be sniffly and lethargic on Saturday, but not today! So I don’t know if they’ll go see the vet, or not. They were quite active in the playpen while I cleaned up their mess.

Lots of adoptions this week, including grey and white Lynn, both little black and white guys (not together), little Micki, and the active black one.

Normal?

Well, things seem to be returning a little to normal – more cats in residence, and they don’t fly out the door as fast. Now if we could just get back to a normal number of cat room volunteers!

This pretty lady is Juniper, she was quiet and accepted pets when I cleaned her room.

Lynn was a bit outgoing and wanted to carefully inspect my face to be sure all the parts were in their proper locations,

Arizona was also quiet, unconcerned about her neighbors even when they had kind of a lot to say.

Then there were the youngsters.

These two were about three months old and incredibly lively and friendly, and had a fun time rumbling together.

At this particular moment, they were watching the action in the playpen, where this guy was hanging out while I cleaned his space.

He had a lot to say and wanted OUT AND DOWN, but wasn’t so thrilled when I came to fish him out of the playpen.

Oh, and then:

(phone case for scale)

This little baby wanted nothing but to be carried around, and she had the vocal chords to let you know about it.

Oh Micki you’re so fine

You’re so fine

You blow my mind

Hey Micki!