A sweet little failure

Meet Miso..

She is our newest foster failure- the third in a row of our foster animals we have adopted. Miso is a tortie point Himalayan from a breeding/hoarding situation in our hometown. She was rescued with 28 other Himalayans from a one bedroom apartment.

She is enjoying our house, and loves playing with Penny and Maggie!! She and Penny are cuddle buddies, while she and Maggie tear up the house together. She also has a cute little meow, like she is a pack a day smoker, when I know she has not smoked a cigarette in her life.

An interesting fact: She has had many names since August: whatever the hoarders called her, Aurora in the pound, Kuroneko from her interim foster dad, Spicecake as her PAWS name, and finally now Miso, her true name.

She definitely found her way into our heart and lives.

Welcome home Miso.

You would think

You would think that by now I would have fostered an animal or two or twelve. That is not the case, unless you count Penny and Maggie, who I tried to foster but ended up keeping, once they made themselves at home here they were mine. I also tend to want to keep every dog that comes into the pound, as well as every black and white cat or orange cat. So, when the Himalayans came in, I thought, this is my chance. I can be a successful cat foster! I am allergic to their long hair, and they won't be in my home long enough to get attached to them.


So I started with three - Spice Cake (whose real secret name is Yeti, for her big fluffy feet), and two kittens, Scotch and Soda.





So cute, aren't they? Scotch and Soda were adopted out, to a woman who volunteers with a Siamese rescue group. And really, as much as I loved having them here, I am relived they are gone! They had to have their rear ends washed a few times a day, they couldn't clean themselves yet. Apparently the mom cat does this for them until they are a certain age, and these two had not reached that age yet. So, that was something I was not counting on!

I still have Spice Cake/Yeti; Billy is falling in love with her Muppet face, and I am glad that we know two great people who may adopt her. Because I am determined that I will adopt her out- then I can say I have successfully fostered more animals than I have kept. The little sasquatch has wormed her way into my heart though, by climbing into my lap when I am on the computer or reading, by trying to catch my scissors when I am sewing, and by the way she loves to imitate Maggie, and follow her around. A little copycat. She is very affectionate and sweet, something I did not expect from a cat who came from a situation like she did. Now I have two shadows, Penny and Spice Cake. Maggie is too independent to follow me around, she likes to run the show, and tell me when I am going to pet her or cuddle her, not the other way around. Maggie and Spice Cake are even getting along now, and are BFFs.

So, you would think that it is too hard to foster an animal; too much work, too hard not to fall in love with them, too hard to adopt them out. And sometimes this is all true. I already can't imagine my house without bigfoot padding around silently, looking up at us with her confused little face. But I know that she will be going to a good home, and that I helped place her there. And that now, I can help another animal out, one that might be in the pound waiting to be let out of its cage and into a home. As much as I want to hold on, these cute little fluff balls have taught me that letting go can be a good thing too.

So not anything too entertaining or thought provoking today, just a little musing, brought on by the rain.

Maggie the Cat

Maggie is our foster cat, brought home from the crowded pound. She has a bit of an URI, so we are now giving meds to two animals. It is starting to feel like a clinic around here!

Maggie is a sweet cat, I am so glad we brought her home, even though we are only a temporary stop on the way to her forever home, wherever that may be. We named her Maggie the Cat after Elizabeth Taylor's character in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, one of my all time favorite movies. Our Maggie is so spirited, and all she wants is attention and to be loved. She also loves to watch TV, which is hysterical to my husband and I.

I have never had a cat before. It is so different from having a dog, it is hard to explain. Penny greets me with such energy and affection, she makes these little aquatic sea life noises to get my attention, and is just so excited to see me! Maggie I know is happy I am home too, but her show of affection is more subtle- she climbs up next to me and her purr motor just takes off. Dogs are just so obvious in their love, while cats make you work for it.

Penny really is funny with Maggie- she doesn't quite know what to think about this little furry thing running around our house. Maggie will step boldly up to Penny, and sniff her nose. Penny will jerk her head around to look at me, her eyes super wide, looking at me like she is in a panic! I have to tell her that she is a good girl, and that it is ok to make her relax. When she is in sleep mode, however, she doesn't care if Maggie is right on top of her. The other day Maggie flopped down in front of Penny on the floor, facing her, and put her tiny paws on top of Penny's big paw. They napped together like that for about 30 minutes. I wanted a picture so badly, but I knew if I got up for my camera they would both wake up to see what I was doing. They are both so nosy. Right now they are napping, which sounds pretty good to me also. I was going to watch Mamma Mia, but for some reason our DVD player is not cooperating. So I think I will imitate my animals, and take a nap too.