BIG EVENT!!!!

Some of you may know that last Fall I began volunteering one afternoon a week at one of the local Petsmart stores. Our rescue has some of our cats/kittens housed there, and 7 days a week, from the moment the store opens until the moment it closes, there is an army of rescue volunteers who take shifts caring for the kitties in the centre. It's a small space relative to an animal shelter, but the cats are extremely well cared for, played with, given lots of attention and affection, and are allowed to roam free until bed time each night.

Recently there was a kitty saved "Ching" - a gorgeous medium haired male who was young (maybe 1 1/2), who had previously been apart of a feral colony. Ching was just a gorgeous boy, sleek, with soulful green eyes, fur that reminded you of sleek silver, and a plumie tail that would put any long haired female to shame.

Unfortunately a few weeks ago, he became ill and long story short, the horrible decision had to be made to bid him goodbye. The result has been alot of tears on the part of the volunteers who mann this centre and who miss him terribly. There was talk of doing some sort of a fundraiser in his memory and today, I decided that I could think of no better way to honour his memory than to host such an event............and thus the BUY THE BOOK FUNDRAISER was born!

At the end of August, I'm going to host this fundraiser in my backyard. To do so, I need to collect books - ALOT of books, that are in good condition and which I can either pick up (if it's not too far), or have kind people drop off at my home. :))

So I figure that it couldn't hurt to also use the avenue of my blog to advertise in the hopes that you, lovely fellow cat lovers and faithful blog followers, will either be able to help me by either providing books of your own, or by spreading the word to friends, neighbours, co-workers and family. Location wise, I'm located in the East end of Toronto so if any of you have books, aren't able to get them to me but live in the general area, and I can come to pick them up - please don't hesitate to let me know.

In the interim, please meet the gorgeous boy in whose honour I now hope to raise funds for other rescued kitties that come after him, and who need the help (and so appreciate the love), just as much as he did. We miss you Ching and we look forward to seeing you again.

MISS PHOTOGENIC

I don't think any of the photos I've been able to take of Pica up until now have really captured her beauty, so I thought I would share these ones from today............I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as she and I enjoyed making them. :))

LITTLE BY LITTLE

Pica has now been our guest for just over two weeks and we're still very much learning about her.

At this point, she is afraid of almost everything...........loud noises, sudden movements, toys that come at her too fast, are too colourful or too big, objects that we can be carrying (such as bedsheets in my arms which terrified her just this morning when she saw me walking with them), and even things as peculiar as my walking toward her with my spring jacket on; it was as though she didn't recognize me and had this look on her face like I was coming to do her serious harm. The one big though is when petting her if your hand or arm finds it's way in front of her face - she will swat out and cry as as if to say, get away from me. She also has to be petted very slowly, which she loves but any change of position or increase in pressure or speed, and she's cowering once again and making it clear she doesn't enjoy it.

All that said, she is still making progress with her trust for affection, and has even crawled up on hubby's lap twice for petting, as well as tapping him on the knee and rubbing up against him to indicate she'd like some love - so we're hopeful. We can only imagine the abuse she has very obviously suffered at the hands of others, and how long it went on for is anyone's guess. What that really means then is that what was horrible for her to endure will take time for her to get over and the reality is that she may always be abit nervous.

Two weeks together is hardly enough time for a kitty with these types of issues to be resolved, but we're so thankful that we were able to rescue her from the shelter because that environment would have never been condusive to even remote attempts at helping her to trust again. She has been placed on the rescue's website for adoption but with clear stipulations that she needs a home without other pets, no small children and that is quiet. We've also been clear about her need to settle into her forever home at her own pace...........

We've already grown to be really fond of her and as always, will keep her safe until the right family comes to offer her, her 2nd chance.

QUEEN

All is relatively quiet here at Safe Haven. Pica continues to do well, although it's pretty obvious at this point that she'd really be happier in a home without other kitties. Her growling and hissing at the boys now only occurs if they get too close versus everytime she even sees them, but that said, we also see how having them around keeps her on edge in a way that we know wouldn't exist if she was alone.

We marvel though at how Rocky & Silly's behaviour changes when there is a female in the house - especially one like Pica who makes it very clear at the outset that she's not fooling around. Rocky's typical M.O. of stalking, growling, and intimidation is non existent with Pica, I think he growled on Days 1& 2 and when he quickly realized she wasn't to be bullied, he did an about face and all but gave up. Now I think he's just grateful that she's not swatting at him or trying to pounce on him (which she didn't hesitate to do when he started his bossy boss routine).

Last night we watched somewhat amazed as Pica maneouvered past both boys and neither even so much as gave her a side way glance. If I didn't know better, I'd think I can hear them each take a slow intake of breath when she's that close, hoping that they don't erupt her wrath while she's near!

All in all, she's very, very sweet and her pretty factor is just off the charts. She's also quickly becoming Daddy's Girl and in typical female fashion, she has hubby wrapped right around her little paw. Me on the other hand, I'm litterbox cleaner, food feeder and brushing slave - and pretty much in that order!

ROLL OF THE DICE

We opened up Pica's guest room door yesterday to finally see how things would unfold between her and the boys. She's been with us a week tomorrow, and has made huge strides with trust and tolerance so the next natural step was to find out what her acceptance level for other kitties was going to be.

She's done amazingly well. Yesterday, she only ventured out of her guest room to explore the top floor of the house and spent alot of time hissing and growling every time Rocky or Silly ventured into her "safety zone". Today, what a difference............she's explored the whole house, has spent time sunning herself at the front livingroom window, and I even caught her standing right next to Rocky on top of the landing of the stairs. Already the hissing and growling has subsided from yesterday's level, her curiousity is outweighing her fear, and she's much more affectionate!

She has another week before her quarantine status is up so we'll see what types of strides she continues to make. We agree however that once her picture and bio are put on the rescue website, it won't be long before she's adopted - she's just way too cute and way too adorable to not have someone wanting to snatch her up.

DAY FOUR OF PICA

Pica is alot more receptive to attention today than she was upon her arrival last Thursday. She was very leery and nervous on Day 1 which is totally understandable, but since then we've been able to pet her a great deal, she's purred numerous times, and we've even discovered that she loves the brush.

She does still have her "nervous" moments, when either a noise or a motion frightens her and you can see that she's transitioned to high alert (as we like to call it), but she's very good about giving us subtle signs that she's not into attention in those instances, and so we've been respecting her signals and not pushing that envelope. Underneath her need to protect herself, there is a very sweet, loving kitty who melts with attention and love...........we've seen it already. She is also extremely playful, she rubs against her toys and licks them as if to give them kisses and becomes as quick as a roadrunner when the lazer pen is pulled out.

What remains to be determined is her true feelings about other cats. Initial signs are that she's not impressed with them at all, but it's too early to know if that's her defences or an honest to goodness hatred for other felines. Silly slipped into her guest room as I was trying to exit and Pica unfortunately was not happy at all - hissing, spitting and pinned back ears went into overdrive and our poor boy couldn't get out of there fast enough!

As promised, I've taken some more pictures of that beautiful coat of hers - which is really grey, cream and light brown but looks much darker in some of these shots; you'll see what I mean.

COAT OF MANY COLOURS

We welcomed a new guest yesterday late afternoon. Her coat and it's colours are just breathtaking to look at - at approximately 3 years of age, this gorgeous dilute torti has surely turned some male feline heads on the streets of our fair city!!

Choosing a name was pretty hard this time around because I really wanted to find something that would be unique for such a striking little girl and so we've decided upon naming her Pica (pronounced Peeka). She wasn't a favourite at the shelter due to some trust issues, which really isn't surprising given the atomosphere in those places, but when we got her home and I read her paperwork which clearly stated that she was "not a friendly cat" - I wondered for about a split second what we'd gotten outselves into which followed quite quickly by, oh well guess we'll see how this goes. *LOL*

Initially very stressed, she was hissy and swatty yesterday but already we've seen a remarkable change. She's been much more relaxed today and hasn't hissed or swatted at either myself or hubby even once all day/evening long. She loves toys and has settled into her cat bed in her guest room like it's the loveliest thing she's ever come across. Introductions with the boys will be delayed simply because she appears to stress easily and we want to give her lots of time to settle in and feel somewhat secure with us before adding anything else on top.

Let's see how the weekend unfolds. Until then, here's the first picture - not the best but at least you get the introduction and I hope to take more this weekend that will really reflect her amazing coat and colours.

ANOTHER ADOPTION!!

We received an adoption call for Cocoa yesterday. A woman enquired on behalf of her senior Mom who recently lost her cat last Fall. The initial conversation last night went well, and this morning this woman accompanied by her daughter came out for a meet n' greet.

My initial concern was that the adoptive Mom was a woman well into her eighties and so the question was raised about what would happen to Cocoa should something happen to her Mom. Well this family assured me that under no circumstances would Cocoa would be placed back in the shelter system; instead this daughter (the woman who came out to meet Cocoa), would assume responsbility for her in the event anything happened to her Mom.

I LOVED this woman and her daughter; they love animals, and Cocoa's forever home (as an only kitty which we know she'll love), sounds absolutely perfect. A pet friendly senior's residence where Cocoa will be showered with lots and lots of attention! Cocoa also was very relaxed, playful and loving during the course of the meet n' greet and helped me to see that this family would be a great fit.

So 3 1/2 weeks after coming into the Safe Haven, this little girl too has found her happily ever after.......

We'll miss you Cocoa girl but we loved having the chance to get to know you.