HEARTWARMING

I came home this afternoon at the end of a stressful week, to this.....

Let me introduce you to our two new foster brothers........the black/white boy is the older of the two (he's 9) and we've renamed him Bumble. His little brother (whose 7) is the adorable munchkin that's already been featured in a previous post - formerly known as Sam we're leaning toward renaming him to Quigley.

Both are sporting lion cuts due to horrendous matting - they both look absolutely adorable in them! Poor Bumble had to have a number of teeth extracted but otherwise they are both in great health and setting in.

Now I ask you, could you leave either of these two precious little faces at a shelter??

FULL HOUSE

With Fisher's impending journey to his forever home next weekend, we reached out to the rescue on Friday to say that we would be ready for our next guest here at the Safe Haven. Literally, within minutes, one of the rescue coordinators emailed me back with a one line email that read: "Ask, and ye shall receive".

There was a senior boy (9 years old) who had been surrendered to the shelter system just the day before. He was badly matted and needed a dental appointment, so of course we agreed to help him and whisked to the vet he was - we'll meet him later this week. Then on Saturday morning, another one line email greeted me upon rising that read: "Here's your new foster's brother, sure you can't help him too?". With the guest room empty, how could we say no to allowing these two boys to stay together?

So no sooner was hubby awake, than we found ourselves in the car driving through a snow squall on the 401 to the other end of the city to pick up "Sam" (as an owner surrender this is his name). Seven years of age, he is one sweet, sweet, sweet kitty!!! Snuggly, friendly, loving, gentle and very purry, he hasn't stopped showing us his gratefulness for helping him to safety. He has however one of the most horribly matted coats we have ever seen, there isn't a spot on his entire body that isn't a mess of rock hard, tight matts. It would have taken a very long time for him to get into this condition, and it breaks our hearts to think of how long he's been suffering under what must be such pain. He's off to the vet on Tuesday to be sedated for a complete shave............so that his beautiful coat can grow back in healthy and be properly cared for from hereonin.

The BEST part is that he doesn't know it yet, but when he returns to us on Wednesday, it will be with his brother beside him - they'll come to stay here as our guests together. What could be better :))

For now, here are pictures of Sam - further photos to show brother #2 will be forthcoming later this week.

PERFECT MATCH

We had an adoption call for Fisher just 24 hours after he went up on the rescue's website. His good looks were never in question for us, but even we were somewhat shocked with an adoption enquiry that fast!

I chatted with "L" at length about Fisher's nervousness and shy nature and about all the great progress he had made thus far. I also told her that he was one very sweet boy that really needed a home that would offer him lots of patience and reassurance. She didn't seem daunted at all and so we set up a time for a meet n' greet earlier this evening. I remained skeptical that this could really be "the one", and I think I even said to hubby at one point right before she came..........."I don't think this will be the fit".

Now it's almost two hours later and Fisher has been adopted. "L" was LOVELY, calm, kind, and loved Fisher instantly. And our shy, scared little man? - well he was so friendly and allowed his prospective Mom to pet him a number of times - he even ate treats that she fed him!!!!! We were so proud of him and had to admit quite quickly that this was infact "it".

She's going away later this week so she won't be picking him up until about 10 days from now, but the realization that our sweet boy has his forever home makes the wait more than worth it.

THE PLUNGE

I just sent in Fisher's write up and pictures for the rescue's website. Sometimes that task is more difficult than others, and with a kitty as fragile as Fisher was when he came to us, that has made such huge strides in the time he's been here, it was most assuredly the latter. You agonize over every adoption, truly you do. As the last line of defence for these little creatures, the buck stops with you or so the saying goes and we feel the weight of it every time.

But this is just a stop on the way and the reality is that as much as we've grown to love him and rejoice in his every stride at becoming more relaxed and feeling safer, he's not ours and we're not his and he can't stay here forever.

This will be a very hard one for hubby - he and Fisher have formed a bond and it will be painful to break.

TRAVEL FELINE STYLE

Connor is a GORGEOUS medium haired orange boy who we fostered what seems like a long time ago now. We welcomed him in the early days, long before this blog, and long before we knew just how many kitties would follow him as guests here at the Safe Haven.

His parents are the salt of the earth. Afew years back now, Connor developed a heart condition and it was very serious for awhile, his winter trips with Mom & Dad to their Florida digs had to be halted for a time due to his tender health state. But, a couple of weeks ago, I received the following shot - and how amazing and sweet it was to see that this kid is back to doing what he loves most; being Dad's co-pilot on the jaunts to the state of oranges!

Have a wonderful winter Connor!!!