DARLINGS OF THE HALF DOZEN KIND

I opened up my home email the other morning at 4:30am (yes I actually do get up at that time during the week), only to be greeted by an email from someone who had a Mom cat and 6 kittens who were being given away for free. It was the wording at the bottom of the email that got me.........."Pls call me if you would like one, two or all of them"

Ugh, I HATE it when people refer to animals like appliances or something to be offered up at a garage sale. I quickly shut off my PC and stormed into the bathroom, telling myself the entire way - don't get involved, don't get involved, don't get involved!! But by the time I was ready to leave for work, there I was back at my PC sending a quick email off to the Foster Coordinator at the rescue, asking if there was any chance at all we could help this little family. I didn't hold out much hope given that kitten season is in full swing, but thankfully the answer was yes for the kittens!

I have never seen 6 little fur balls that are cuter than these - but seeing as I'm a total softie for adorable little faces, maybe you'd all like to judge for yourselves. We have yet to name them (we're having trouble keeping them all separate in our heads since the majority of the them look so similar), but I can tell you that they are SWEET and that we have 3 girls and 3 boys. We're an emergency foster space only for these babies, hubby has put his foot down that we cannot have 9 cats in the house (party pooper that he is) - so they'll be moved on shortly, but for now I am lovin' every minute of it.

THE POWER OF CARING

Tonight my thoughts are turned toward those who work so faithfully in rescue. A special shout out to the colony caretakers and feeders the world over, for their dedication, their courage, their convictions, but most of all for their caring. They battle the elements day in and day out, 365 days a year, to ensure that the feral kitties within their respective colonies are well fed and cared for; they oftentimes cover veterinary medical costs out of their own pockets, and place the welfare and wellbeing of these cats well ahead of most other things that may be going on in their lives.

To many, feral cats are "wild" animals who should be left to their own devices, to die alone, hungry and diseased. There should be zero concern for spaying and neutering, and the darling little kittens born every year are just a nuisance and nothing more. But for every person who is of this opinion, there are others who not only completely disagree, but who dig in and dig deep to help, to be there, to stand up and do whatever is necessary to make a difference, any difference. They are a breed of people who some might say do a thankless service..................but I guess that really depends on who you ask.

For our Flossy and countless others, colony caretakers and feeders are the lifeline that keeps these kitties going, but moreso they really are the difference between life and death for many. Our little girl would have surely died last winter had it not been for R & J who stopped, stepped in, and saved her from imminent death.

So from Flossy and Tina to those who truly are their angels - THANK YOU.

SUNNY OBSERVATION

It's been very quiet fostering wise the last little while. In all, we've now had 3 calls of enquiry on Flossy but the last two, upon learning that she has had a full mouth extraction and that she has to eat hypo allergenic food that is $65 a case, were immediately no longer interested.

The expense of the food I can understand, some people don't want to take that on up front due to their own restricted budget, but the concerns over her full mouth extraction (actually she does still have her front canines or fangs), baffles me. Why people are so leery when they learn she has no teeth is really beyond me..............I mean, she's the one with no teeth so what are they so worried about!? She eats like a little horse and she would/does eat whatever you put in front of her, hard, soft or otherwise! As always it appears that alot of people are looking for that "perfect" cat, the one that has no health issues, no emotional or psychological issues, no temperment issues, no faults and certainly no real dislikes! Little do these same people realize that they themselves come with varying degrees of all those things themselves, so why they expect an animal (who in many instances has been abused or abandoned) to be void of them; well, it's a rant for another post I guess. :))

One of little Flossy's favourte spots now is at our front livingroom window, where she spends oodles of time enjoying the comings and goings of the world laid out before her - cars, people, dogs, other cats and of course the multitude of birds and squirrels that grace our front lawn and the trees therabouts. The title of this post refers to this place as an observation deck, because that's just what it is for her, her own big screen view of the outside world she's happy to observe but has no interest in returning to.