MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

On this cold, snowy morning our household wants to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! We're so grateful and thankful to be together this holiday season, to have our health, comforts, and to be blessed with so much with which to share.

Clarence is being such a good boy while staying with us and we're especially thankful that we could welcome him here to the Safe Haven so that he didn't have to spend the holidays in the shelter. That said, we think of all those cats & dogs who sit in shelters this morning, waiting patiently and quietly for someone to open their heart and take them home.

Hoping everyone has a very blessed day...........

POST SEVEN DAYS

We've decided to call our new foster Clarence. Having been here just over a week, he's doing amazingly well..............so much so that he spent last night curled up beside me on the bed as I watched t.v.; resting his head on my lap the entire time. Overnight he goes back into his foster room (which he seems to enjoy) since our Silly has been caught bugging him abit largely to avoid any out and out blowups as much as possible.

Just as a precaution we do have our sofa and chair covered which we'll do now for every guest. It gives us peace of mind and ensures more of a happy stay here at Safe Haven. :))

Love this little boy already and again, so grateful that we could offer him our home.

THE ANSWER

Earlier this week, a plea went out from the rescue to help save some cats housed at the shelter. I never stopped looking, but declawed males don't tend to come with any degree of frequency so I wasn't expecting to see anybody when I opened the newest list on Wednesday morning.

He's between 5-7 years of age, has a mild heart murmur and is FIV+. None of those things were what caught my eye - what did however was the part that read "he's been in the shelter since July and although placed in the adoption room, continues to wait". In a shelter cage every day for the past 4 months?! I may have hesitated for all of the 30 seconds before I replied we'd like to welcome him here. A HUGE thank you to the volunteer driver "K" who drove clear across the city in Friday night traffic to bring him to us (he's a total love bug which is why he was a shelter favorite).

After Dooley left us at the end of September, I didn't honestly know if we would foster again. I decided then that if it was something we were supposed to continue to be involved in, than quite simply the Lord would let me know that and as for timing, I left that to Him as well. If there are any skeptics or non believers among you, you'll likely not take much stock in that last sentence, but as far as I'm concerned - He answered and the loving, adorable, gentle, beautiful response lies in my spare room.

SOMETHING HAPPY

We are without a foster at present. The furniture has all been repaired, and we're focusing on our own boys right now, especially since our Rocky is becoming alot more fragile health wise.

But this post isn't meant to be another downer; no this one is to share some wonderful news and shots I received afew months ago from a previous adopter. "M" took Quincy (now called Oscar), home with her two years ago. She's kind enough to drop us a note from time to time, letting us know how her sweet boy is doing and this time around, the update was even more precious as we learned that Oscar has a new feline sister AND a brother in an ex-greyhound dog that "M" adopted. They live in the country now in the Maritimes, and Oscar has been very good about adapting.

See for yourself..........

Doesn't that just put a smile on your face? - it sure did ours!!

"F" FOR FAILURE

I know my entries have been non existent for abit. There's been a great deal going on and I was hoping to write when I had better news but since it's not coming in the foreseeable future, I thought it best to at least acknowledge it.

A week ago this past Tuesday we discovered that Dooley had once again urinated on our livingroom sofa. That was with full plastic in place (he crawled under it), and while we left him out unsupervised during a day at work. Truth be told, we were convinced that his accidents had been as a result of his urinary crystals and since he had been placed on prescription food and was using litterboxes perfectly, we let our guard down. It's really hard to know what the cause is, but we're hopeful that now it's the fact that our boy Silly and Dooley don't always get along, and that a home on his own might be just what the doctor ordered. Sooooooo this coming Saturday we're moving him to a foster space where he'll be the only pet in the hopes that that is the magical answer.

As if it wasn't sad and frustating enough to know that we couldn't see him adopted from our home, he also had WONDERFUL adopters who were interested in him last weekend that we had to let know that sadly he could not be adopted currently until the source of this issue is resolved. They were so appreciative of our honesty, and I try to console myself by remembering that everything happens for a reason, but right now the only thing I feel is a big mix of sadness and defeat as I'm really going to miss this boy.

Not sure where this road leads at present, this experience has been awful for all involved, but hopefully time will tell.

WAKE UP CALL

I know it's been several weeks since I last wrote, to say it's been abit crazy would be putting it mildly.......

First off, our darling Dooley is still with us but just. That's due to the fact that almost three weeks ago now, he urinated on our leather sofa practically right in front of us, and then as we scrambled to clean and cover some other leather pieces we had as well, it was discovered that a brand new chair in our home office had been urinated on more than once, unbeknownst to us. We were furious, then devastated, then furious some more.................the sofa and chair are custom made, very expensive and items that we saved for in order to acquire. Even typing it makes me cringe because I know how it makes us sound, but believe me when I tell you that it's pretty easy to say that materials things don't matter until you see them damaged right in front of your eyes.

We immediately made plans to have Dooley moved to another foster home because inappropriate urinating was just a deal breaker for us - and it was also a first in almost 140 fosters if you can believe it!!. Not only were hubby and I both upset, we started fighting with one another and suddenly Dooley was "my cat" - not nice. However, there aren't alot of foster parents who want to take in a foster that is having litterbox issues so almost a full week went by and there was still no place to move him to. In the interim, we also decided to take him in to the vet for an urinalysis just to be sure there wasn't anything wrong medically to bring on such behaviour. Turns out that he has struvite crystals and a very elevated PH Balance - BINGO, BIG PROBLEM that explained his actions.............he was trying to tell us that he wasn't feeling well.

Soooooo with my house looking somewhat like a storage unit because we continue to keep furniture covered, Dooley is now on a prescribed diet and is doing wonderfully! It's been very stressful, and continues to be so to some degree because we're not sure if he'll start again, but we are really trying at this point to see past this because it is what it is, it's happened (and taken weeks to clean our furniture which we're still working on), and we really want to see him adopted into a good forever home and not have to put him through the stress of another move before that comes.

And in other news...............remember beautiful Beaumont that we returned to his owner when they appeared? Well we received a call this week that he's been found outside again by the same TNR colony caretaker who trapped him the first time. Appears that his owner suffers from mental health issues and not only is not taking care of him, but is also quite possibly a cat hoarder. So utterly heartbreaking to hear this news, especially since he was rescued once, had the potential for a wonderful forever home, and now finds himself homeless again.

Sigh - onwards and upwards.

ORANGE IS STILL THE SWEETEST!

This post is simply going to tell you what an absolute little darling our Dooley is being (I've even started calling him DooleyBean) - I am totally and helplessly in love with this little jar of marmalade, and he was just what I needed to help me get over losing Beaumont.

He has been so good and after a full week with us, the only thing I'm hoping for is that the 2nd week goes slowly so that I don't have to put him on the website too soon.

Anyone who can resist him once he's up for adoption has some serious issues me thinks *L*

BACK IN BUSINESS

Tonight after getting home from work, we went right over to the shelter and picked up this cutiepie.............we're going to call him Dooley.

Approximately 6 yrs of age, evidently someone had been feeding him outside for the past two years. So far, except for abit of talking on the way home in the car, he's been very calm. We'll have much better pictures shortly, but for now trust us when we say he's got the SWEETEST face!!!

CHANGING DIRECTION

When we welcomed Beaumont into our home several weeks ago, he had been located by a feral feeder from the rescue as a stray that she came upon and had been feeding for a number of weeks prior to his being rescued. Lost and found posters went up for him just prior to him joining us here at Safe Haven and we could tell immediately from the beautiful condition of his coat and his super friendly nature, that he hadn't been homeless long.

Fast forward to this past Wednesday when we got a call from the feral feeder that had originally rescued him, that she had received a call from someone that day indicating that they thought Beaumont was their lost cat. I have to say that in rescue there are instances where people looking for a beloved pet who has been lost will reach out to us, but rarely do those calls ever result in reuniting pets with owners because 9 times out of 10, it doesn't turn out to be their pet after all.

After a initial discussion with this owner (where she provided abit of information that led us to believe that Beaumont may very well be hers), we arranged for her to come by and meet him so we could all know for sure. The long and short of it is that he is hers and apparently escaped his home after she had become ill and was hospitalized. Beaumont was pretty stressed when she came as there were a number of people in the house and he doesn't do well with alot of commotion, but picture comparison as well as her describing some of his quirky habits, all confirmed that he was indeed hers.

There is another part to this whole situation in that the rescue has not only paid for vaccinations, defleaing and deworming for Beaumont but he also had to have some dental work done so there are vet expenses that will have to be recouped from the owner prior to reuniting them permanently. This aspect hasn't really gone over very well with the owner but as explained to her, the costs are at a huge discount AND we are not running a vetting service. It's been extremely stressful dealing with all of this, and of course now that we know Beaumont has a home, this has turned into feeling more like a cat sitting situation than real rescue of this darling boy.

This will have to be resolved this coming week as we have another homeless boy (who is truly homeless this time), who is in need of saving and we need to get back to the business of proper rescue. Still, there's mixed feelings on our part over how things have unfolded - we're just trying to remember that everything happens for a reason and we helped Beaumont when he needed it.

MUFF UPDATE

We've been keeping in pretty close contact with Muff's new Mom since she took him home a couple of weeks ago and we're thrilled to report that everything is going great! He and his new feline roommate Dipsy (geez how I love that name for a kitty!) have been getting to know one another slowly but all indications are that they will be friends in no time. True to fashion, Muff has been on his best behavior and "A" his Mom just sounds more and more smitten with him every time she emails us!

So without further adieu, here is a picture of our gorgeous fella in his new digs - looking pretty happy I'd say......

FRESH STARTS

Tonight is a fresh start for our Muff who went to his new forever home earlier today. It feels so strange without him in the house tonight, but his new Mom was so excited to be taking him home, and we take comfort in knowing that she's going to take great care of him.

This is also a fresh start for our new houseguest, whom we decided to name Beaumont.....

Young, handsome, and VERY sweet!, this little guy is all about love, love, love! Within afew hours of being here, he was already reaching out with his two front paws for around the neck, with head butts to the face for affection. He is without a doubt, ridiculously friendly and I'm so glad that he's been able to escape the harsh life of the streets. We don't suspect that he was out there long based upon how gorgeous his coat still is and how uber friendly he is, and we also don't suspect that we'll have him very long once he goes up on the adoption website.

Tonight we are so thankful and feel so blessed to be involved in this work of rescue.

AMAZING

After afew not so good meet n' greet's - we're delighted to say that Muff met his new Mom last Saturday and will be going home this coming Sunday!!

Muff was a little standoffish at first but by the end of the visit, he was letting his "A" brush him and he melted like butter in a hot pan which caused her to melt as well! *L* I knew right then that it was a match made in heaven and she's looking so forward to taking him home. He'll have an older girl to show him around "Dipsy" is "A"s other kitty, a gorgeous 17 yr old Forest or Himlayan with the most gorgeous eyes and colouring (there may be some competition there about whose prettier *L*).

We will miss him so much, but we're so incredibly grateful that someone saw him for the lovely, sweet boy that he is and didn't allow a number to stand in the way of that. A has promised to send updates complete with photos, so I'll sure we'll all get to see this happily ever after unfolding.

PS: We already have a new guest waiting in the wings - another handsome boy; stay tuned!!

INTEREST - NO BITE

To date we've had 6 adoption inquiries for Muff but as of right this minute, none of them have been the right fit. The first person to meet him had a senior kitty at home (16 to be exact) and although she seemed nice enough, her referring to Muff as "rickety" (and that's a direct quote), kind of turned me right off. So I gave her the "out" which is basically where I give them a gentle nudge in the backing up direction, and she took it hook, line and sinker.

The second interested party was a woman that had two small children. I'll be honest in saying that I was very skeptical before I even spoke to her; two small kids with a senior kitty - not on my watch I said to myself. But I was humbled right away after that big declaration because upon speaking to her, she was the LOVELIEST person and it was quickly evident that not only would her home be an awesome one for any kitty lucky enough to land there, her wee ones sounded equally as awesome and I don't doubt that they would be wonderful friends to a feline companion! We mutually agreed however that Muff might be just abit too senior for her family............

The current interested party has no other pets and lives alone. May work out, however, I just got an email earlier and by the sounds of it, she's in no hurry to come and meet our cream colored King because she's asking about a meet n' greet appointment for "next week sometime" - hmmmmmmmmmm.

Aside from the flurry of activity since his adoption posting went up, here back at the ranch Muff himself is doing fabulous. He's settled in so well now and has started wanting to have a cuddle with me in bed at night before my light goes out. Of course at 20 Ibs, I have to help him onto the bed but the real trick is that Rocky has to be up on the bed first and wants the primo spot before he'll even consider letting Muff infringe on his territory!

RESILIENCE

One thing is for certain........the person that claims cats cannot overcome, has never met our Muff. Homeless again for the 2nd time in his life (that we know of), elderly, and having been taken from someone that he grew used to and loved for the past 8 years, is more than most would be able to battle back from - but battled back this big, easygoing boy has and he's done it in style.

He's calm, collected, quiet, and so easygoing it would amaze just about anybody. The only time I see even a hint of ornery self from this fella is when I'm brushing him and he grows tired of the grooming..........he usually makes a noise and gives a swat to say: we're done for tonight! Otherwise, he's quite content with whatever else you can offer in the way of affection and attention, and asks for very little. Physically, he's in good health, recent bloodwork showed nothing disconcerting and his kidney levels remain very reasonable for a boy his age, so for that we are so grateful.

He'll go up on the website any day now. It breaks our hearts to think that once again he will need to endure yet another change and a move, but we know he can do it and we're looking forward to finding him a new home where he will be cherished and spoiled rotten for the remainder of his days.

HOPE

Muff is settling in okay we think. Of course, there are moments when I look at him and I swear he has simply accepted things because he knows that they can be no other way now. We had him to the vet yesterday, he weighs in at 20Ibs unfortunately, but that doesn't surprise us since the size of the bowl his Mom was feeding him from was big enough for a Great Dane, and they were living together in a bachelor apt so he wasn't getting any real exercise. And in saying that, there is no malice in those statements since I know she loved him and gave him the best of what she had. He also has arthritis in his back legs, and has some telltale signs of early kidney disease but neither is surprising given that his age is somewhere between 11 - 13 years.

He has full run of the house now and has been as good as gold. Very quiet, sleeps a great deal, and LOVES attention. His coat is in desperate need of some TLC since it appears he has stopped grooming, but tolerates brushing for quite abit of time before getting abit ornery. Again, nothing concerning and almost expected with a boy this senior.

His Mom called early last week to see how he was. Another very tough conversation since I could just hear the longing in her voice for him, and I'm sure a deep sense of sadness, especially given what she's facing. I reassured her that she's welcome to call anytime, and I'm happy to let her know about his new family when he's adopted - she did say however that she knows she can't continue to ask about him because it only makes letting him go that much more painful.

I so admire her strength and courage and have no idea who I would face a similar situation if it was visited upon me.

A SAD FIRST

In addition to fostering for the rescue, I also volunteer as a Post Adoption Counsellor. In this capacity, I work with people that have adopted from the rescue and are reaching out because they are having issues with the kitty/ies - whether those be behavioral, medical, or surrendering in nature. Yesterday, I received a case that involved a woman who has recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and needed to surrender her adopted kitty back to us as a result.

What started out as a bright, upbeat day, quickly turned dark and sad for me. To say that I had to take many deep breaths before making that call would be an understatement. I did so only after I prayed that I would be able to keep my emotions in check as I spoke to "D". As we chatted, and I gathered the information I required in order to begin the process of a return, I couldn't help but feel this woman and her cat sounded eerily familiar to me. Long story short, it turned out that the reason they sounded so familiar was because they were................her cat Muffy (who we knew as Simba), was one she had adopted from us as we had been fostering him when she came to adopt him back in 2009.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I believe wholeheartedly that everything happens for a reason, and I also do not believe in coincidences. The fact that our foster space has been empty since the end of January was something that I believed the Lord made happen so that we could spend precious time with our Rocky, but I also now believe that He did so because He knew that D and Muffy (who is now 11 years of age), would need us. Upon arriving at "D"s earlier this afternoon, she had gathered all of Muffy's things together and we helped her get him into the carrier. He didn't fight, almost as if they had had a long conversation and he knew that this was how it had to be.

Tonight he is quiet, sad, and clearly missing his Mom and his home. I don't know what is worse, when we welcome them in not knowing the road they've travelled or circumstances such as these where I can look into their eyes and see the longing for home and know that they can never go back there. We reassured "D" that we would take very good care of him and that we'd ensure he was adopted out to a very good home. Despite those promises, I can well imagine that she misses her friend tonight as much as he misses her.

And for me, that is truly heartbreaking....

BLAST FROM THE PAST

We received another lovely email earlier...............this one from Mako's family. Remember Mako? - the stunning all white boy we fostered? Well here he is putting his seal of approval on his Mom's new vanity sink.

And when I asked her how our handsome snowman is doing, this was her reply:

Mako is doing well. He is good cat, aside from the 4:00 am wake up. He loves to sleep on top of me when I'm watching tv or on the laptop and sleeps beside me at night. He's playful and very nosey. He still hides when someone visits and will only come out for my sister, but I leave him alone and hope he grows out of it when he's 20 or so.


Awwww happily ever afters............don't you just love them.

QUIET TIME

At present we're still without a foster. Normally, I'd be very anxious since it's been just over six weeks or so since we moved Oreo but for present, we're okay with the situation the way it is.

We had our Rocky back to the vet a week or so ago due to some health things that had arisen in the last little while which we've been concerned about. Our vet strongly suspects that based on symptoms, it's very likely that our little boy has cancer growing somewhere either in behind his one eye or in his nasal passage. His vision in the one eye is very minimal now (more like looking through frosted glass according to the vet), and that coupled with alot of wheezing, sneezing and raspy breathing, has led to this latest diagnosis. The good news is that despite being quite thin now, he's held his weight since October and his appetite is still fantastic. He's much, much quieter these days, preferring to sleep away a large portion of the hours, but overall still comes for treats, still likes to snuggle, and is still letting us know when he wants wet! :)

We're all in agreement that while his appetite is good and his seizures are in check, we'll keep him comfortable and enjoy every last second together. Time wise, it could be anywhere from 3-6 months but of course, leaving this world is never on our timetable so noone really knows when it will be time for him to cross over the bridge. Having been here before, we know that Rocky and Heavenly Father will let us know when it's time...............until then, we're thankful.

NEWS, NEWS, NEWS

I know it's been quite some time since the last entry.............

The delay has been mostly due to our having upgraded our computer system and in the process, somehow our camera adapter to download our photos was tossed out with the old system. So, that meant that posting would be without pictures, and I didn't want to bore anyone with that idea so the intention was to wait until we purchased a new adapter. But 2017 has been busier than expected, and we still don't have the adapter (don't get me started!!).

All that said, the BIGGEST piece of news we can share right now is that Oreo was adopted at the end of January, but unfortunately not from the Safe Haven. His litterbox issues (of defecating outside of the box) became pretty consistent - he was still using the box but not "finishing" there. In addition, his bullying of our Silly was becoming more and more aggressive, and it was clearly evident that Silly was very nervous around him. So at the end of January, with heavy hearts and because we couldn't figure out why he was having the litterbox issues since he'd had a clean bill of health AND was no longer suffering any constipation issues of any kind; we decided to move him to a single pet foster home in the hopes that that would put an end to the behavior - and it did. He wasn't in his foster home a week and he had stopped the litterbox habit altogether, AND had a call for adoption.

In all the years we've been fostering, he's only the third foster to be removed from our care prior to adoption, and it just broke our hearts. But clearly, he was not happy sharing his space with our boys, and the litterbox was his way of letting us know. We stayed in constant touch with his 2nd foster Mom right up until he was adopted, and his forever family ended up being related to one of our own rescue volunteers, so we're pretty certain he'll be well cared for.

Currently, we don't have our next guest so although we're missing the extra set of paws in the house, it's give our boys the chance to really enjoy their home again AND us the chance to clean up the basement carpet properly before welcoming anyone else. Hopefully our next entry will have the latest AND pics.

Stay tuned and Happy New Year!!!!!