LOTS TO SHARE!!!

It's been a busy and mixed emotion past week as we bid goodbye to Fisher and welcomed in our two new fosters, Bumble & Ziggy!

Let's start with Fisher.........

Things are going really well for our sweet boy and his new forever home. His Mom "L" reports that he's been shy but sweet and seems to be coming along nicely in terms of settling in. I smiled this morning when I awoke to an email from her that reported Fisher had decided to pull his cat bed (which went with him when he was adopted), at least partially under her dresser where his safe zone has been the past week. Here's what she had to say:

I just wanted to let you know Fisher is doing well. He continues to come out more and appears to be warming up to me. He has taken a liking to sleeping on my bed, especially when I am not home (...noted by his fur left behind). He truly loves his bed-again thanks for passing this along. I put it in-front of my dresser in a quiet space in my room, & he pulled it under my dresser for more privacy.

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Now onto our current houseguests, brothers Bumble & Ziggy.........

Both adorable and incredibly sweet, these two boys are very different personality wise. Bumble is the more serious, reserved and somewhat shy of the two; he enjoys attention but in small increments and is just happy to sit back and watch things unfold versus having to be always in the thick of things.

Ziggy on the other hand is just a ball of play and totally Mr. Personality Plus!! He's so affectionate and loving that every time you show him any kind of attention, he's immediately trying to figure out a way to mold himself either onto your lap or climb up on you and lay across your chest, all the while purring wildly and kneading his paws. He not only wants to snuggle at bedtime, he see's nothing wrong with tucking his head in under your chin and then wrapping his paws practically around your neck! Adorable yes, conducive to a restful night's sleep - NO! Hubby and I were up practically all night last night as he flipped between one and then the other. He's so kitten like for 7 years of age - inquisitive, happy go lucky, full of beans, and so cute.

Both boys have just had their bios and pictures sent to the rescue for posting on the website so we'll see how long it is before someone calls for them. They MUST go together as Ziggy is extremely protective of his older brother, and if he has wandered out of Bumble's line of sight for too long, Bumble starts to become anxious and appears to begin searching for him.

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!!!

HANGIN' OUT

Here we are about six weeks later - give or take a week or two (I don't have my daytimer in front of me, and Fisher is doing okay. Like alot of the male species, he's not shy when it comes to food time, or treats time for that matter. He'll fearlessly venture out for both and now has become such a lover of the Temptations variety of goodies, that he'll actually tag team with our Silly to see who can convince Mom with pitiful little meows and those big sad eyes, to see which ones gets me to buckle first! *sneaky devils*

Without a doubt he's made alot of progress in terms of his comfort level in the house and he's also begun playing tag with Silly, all good signs. Steve and I can both pet him alot more now but he remains quite fearful of sudden movement and especially if there's any kind of raised voice. He retreats to his safety zone (which happens to be a little cat bed he's taken over on our bedroom floor), and it's there you'll find him if he's feeling at all unsure. He enjoys his toys but prefers to entertain himself with them, and attempts by us to play with him has him quite fearful; I guess it's the whole idea of something coming toward him that he's not ready for.

His meow, chipmunk cheeks, and candy cane tail are all so endearing. Behaviour wise toward our boys he is as good as can be, has perfect litterbox habits and is absolutely the best houseguest. He may never be a lap cat or a cuddler, but then again a year from now he could also make a complete liar out of me.