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.

TEARS OF HEARTACHE

I had a call this past Thursday morning indicating that there was someone very interested in meeting (and possibly adopting) Flossy. I was somewhat skeptical right at the outset as I learned that this person had a little dog - a Maltese. No discrimination against dogs of course, I was simply already weighing the probability that Flossy, due to the rough living conditions she had survived outside, was more than likely not a fan of canines.

Regardless, I spoke with the woman "K" briefly on the phone, reitereated the fact that I had no idea what Flossy's reaction would be to a dog, and with all the knowledge I could offer from the time we had been caring for her, agreed to the woman visiting that evening. She arrived and it was love at first sight and interestingly, once the woman sat down, it wasn't long before Flossy's shyness dissipated and she was over allowing the woman to pet and stroke her and showing her purr motor in full force. It was then that "K" began to sob uncontrollably and I learned that this woman's last kitty, a female named Jasmine at 19 years of age, who had passed away just a few short months before, was identical physically to our Flossy - thus her interest.



I found myself choking back the emotion as I tried to comfort this person, whose sadness and longing for her little friend was clearly still so incredibly painful, fresh and so very raw. I immediately thought of my Miss Remy and how I remember the tears and sorrow that I experienced when we made the decision to bid her goodbye. Try as I might to console "K", I was completely at a loss to know what to say or how to say it to help bring her any kind of comfort. In the end, we spent time simply talking about the pain that comes with losing a beloved pet, and how although you will never forget them, with time, those feelings subside and wonderful warm memories of the time you spent together are what takes it place.

In the end, we decided that Flossy wasn't the right fit for her at this time, but I encouraged her to do two things. 1) To give herself time to grieve and to miss Jasmine and 2) To think about perhaps fostering initially so that she could be assured her next kitty would be friendly with her little dog.

This experience was a first for me - for us. In all the years we've been fostering, in all the people we've met along the way, this was the first time that someone reminded me so strongly, of the difficulties that can and are a very real part of loving these little creatures.

FAIR GAME

This weekend we purchased another Southwestern/Mexican piece for our home decor - a Chimichanga. On the drive back from the shopping trip, both my hubby and I said that we wondered how long the item would be in the house before one of the kids would investigate and end up inside.

Well it's heartwarming to know that as parents, we know our "little ones" pretty well, shocking however to realize that we were liberal with the timeframe.........we thought it would be 24 hours; this shot was taken after it being in place for 10 mins.

He isn't called Silly for nothing! :))

MONDAY SURPRISE

In recent weeks I had seen a little kitty once again roaming our neighbourhood, but had yet to get an up close introduction. I kept hoping that it was just someone's kitty that had decided to go on a little neighbourhood walk, and that it wouldn't end up being another stray yet again appearing. Well in the last week two of our neighbours had made us aware of this little kitty, and befoe I had a chance to obtain a trap, I got a call last night indicating that he/she had quite happily (and easily), been coaxed into my one neighbours home where she spent the night.

We picked her up after work from the clinic, all freshly vaccinated, dewormed and deflea'd, and thankfully, she was already spayed (a first for us) - at least someone cared enough to do that! Sooooo we're fostering another until there's an adoption and she can be moved. In the meantime, she is SUPER CUTE, SUPER SWEET, and SUPER AFFECTIONATE, and we've named her Carmel.

CAREFREE & LOVIN' IT!

I always knew that cats have THE life - the one we're all dreaming of as we drag ourselves out of bed in the morning for work or school, the one we look on with envy as we rush around doing chores, taking care of kids, and living life in the fast paced, demanding, never stop environment of today's world. But I have to admit that never was that made more apparent to me than it was by this next shot:



If it looks like a Diva and acts like a Diva and poses like a Diva, than it's a DIVA! Here she is, in all her glory, showing everyone (including our two boys), the new Queen of the house. Infact just prior to my taking this picture, Flossy had managed to toss Silly out of this cat bed (which happens to be his favourite), so that she could get in it! She can frequently be caught teasing, tormenting and luring our dear sweet Silly with her full arsenol of female persuasions, everything from her tail to her dainty little wiggle walk, constantly keep him amused and bemused. *LOL*

In all seriousness she is doing so well. Unfortunately we have yet to have even one call on her adoption wise, which we just can't understand why. She was just at the vet's yesterday due to some ongoing issues with her allergies, but we're trying yet another new food and she had a steriod shot which appears already to have helped tremendously.

The unfortunate thing is that while she's here I can no longer foster anymore males -Silly nearly went beserk while Wilbur was with us, and it's clear that Flossy is his girl and his alone - he's not looking to share her with anyone.

She's got our Sylvester wrapped right around her little paw - and she knows it.

ONE LITTLE FRIEND

I never dreamed when Flossy first came to stay with us that she would ultimately turn into a "Mommy's Girl". Maybe it's because I become so engrossed in caring for them, the fosters I mean, that I forget that in feeding them and cleaning their litterbox, and in administering meds and spending hours upon hours trying to gain their trust, that the end result may very well be that they become tied to me emotionally.



I've taken afew days off this past week and it's suddenly dawned on me the extent to which Flossy appears to follow me around. I can go up and down the stairs a hundred times, I can switch rooms or seats quickly or slowly and I'll always find when I look down, that she's reappeared as though she's been there all along. Even as I type this entry, I left our livingroom with her asleep on the arm of our loveseat not ten minutes ago, I just happened to look down from the desk here where I sit now, and she's curled up on the floor at my feet, snoozing as I type this.

I guess I should have realized that something was amiss when hubby and I both saw that she'd eat for noone but me............