Sweet, Sweet Sugar

**This is a letter to my little T, aka Chabifa!***

Dear Tabifa,
Shanks for being the wonderful lap kitty that I always wanted. Although I've had a lap kitty before, it was only as a child...I vowed that when I had my own kitties, they would be spoiled, indoor only pampered kitties.

Since then, we adopted Milo, our Zen Buddhist kitten. He calms me down when the world around me is spinning at 50 mph, and I love to give him kisses and hugs while holding him like the baby that he is. He never complains, but he will put his soft paw (no claws) on my mouth to show he'd like to be on all 4's again- puhlease, Meowm! He also dips his paw in the water bowl, and washes himself. I hate that b/c I don't want litter particles tainting the water for them, but we can't stop him from doing that and got rid of the really deodorized litters.

So far, we have several modern conventions to thank for our sanity. We have the Littermaid, the Litter Robot, and the Roomba. The two litter machines require little scooping, and the Roomba sucks up all the nasty cat and Ruby's black bristly Lab hair every day.

Tabifa, you hold a special place in Meowm's heart. I rescued you and your sibbies (and half sibbies) from a feral colony, and you were the sweetest kitten of the bunch. I used to hold you in my arms close, like a baby, and would sing you Disney songs as you held your ears back in fear. In time, your ears turned upwards into curiosity, and you purred as soon as I'd give you a big hug...

Since then, little Chabifa has really blossomed into a beautiful, curvaceous little lady. She's still small for her age, though I guess technically not, as she is less than a year old but the same weight as Milo, so at least 7 pounds or so. She eats like the piggie she is, and rarely has stomach upset. She waits for
Milo to leave some wet food which is why she caught up to him weight wise. They never fight over food, and they gladly share between each other.

Milo and Tabifa have become the best of sibbies. They sleep together often now (more than when she was younger), they groom each other all the time (it looks like they are two lovers making out, esp. with Tabifa's neck craning out), and they eat together peacefully. Since her arrival, there was not even a single swat or hiss from Milo or even on her end. They were meant to be buddies for life, and are now very close and love to spend time chasing each other, soaking in light beams, and basking in sun rays as they stream through the windows on a late Sunday evening.

Chabifa, aka my little Princess, is definitely my sweet, sweet sugarpie. All our furbies are spoiled, but she gets extra attention b/c she's the baby of the family. I love that she starts purring within seconds of me kissing her, stroking her fur, or holding her close to my heart. She knew I was writing her a
letter, and jumped right up onto my lap, sprawling out on my computer with her paws on the lower keyboard...

She has a wide variety of facial expressions. When you stroke her neck, she cranes it upwards, and has a look of utter contentment as she closes her eyes gently...When she's eating, she's voracious and eats chunks of food whereas Milo takes his sweet time and LICKS his food. hehe When she wants to play or when she waits for me, she meows at us sweetly in one of her different tones...there's Meoooow (hurry let's play)...Meoow? (are you ready to play). Meowm Meowm Meow (when she holds a toy in her mouth and brings it as a gift). She has other tones but those are the most used. She still has the sour lemon face as her face and muzzle are still really small compared to her body!

Lately, she's been taking Bella's whale toy, and carrying it up the stairs while meowing in a


consecutive pattern. She then drops the toy off at our feet. She also plays with a smaller stuffed animal toy BY HERSELF, by somehow throwing it in the air, tossing it around the floor, and attacking it while tossing it with her own 2 paws. She LOVES stuffed animals just like her dog sister Bella, and carries them around in her mouth...

As for Bella, our crazy JRT mix pup, she and Little T are best buds too. They often sleep together, with Tabifa on top of Bella, just relaxing, and resting her stretched out paw on Bella's deep chest. She licks and grooms Bella, and Bella in turn licks her ears, enjoying the attention and warmth of a warm kitten next to her. She lets Tabifa sit on top of her, next to her, and enjoys sleeping on the same bed with her no matter what. She even lets Chabifa steal her kibble from time to time...She lets Chabifa play with all her toys, as she in turn loves the cat toys as her own...

Chabifa loves to lounge with us in bed. Just relaxing, on our laps, on our stomachs, and even next to us, kneading on our laps or purring away...

But my all time favorite Tabifa thing is when she comes in the middle of the night to sleep with us. I am mostly asleep, but I can always hear her loud purring...resonating through the darkness...and I feel her soft whiskers gently tickle my face as she plops down right between DH and I. that's always the spot she goes for, right between us with the maximum area for warmth. As she settles in, she does a half "meyyarr" and will stretch out onto her stomach, and I make space for her,
so comfy and settled...She then tucks her little head under my chin, and lets me caress her coat in my sleepy stupor...Of course, she eventually gets up around 5 am before I wake up to horse around with Milo as they are both early bloomers and are anxiously awaiting breakfast...

She's been doing that almost every night for a good 6 weeks now. She used to do that sporadically but she does it almost every night now, whether or not the door to the bedroom is closed. Latley its been open as the room stinks if the dogs have an accident, or if the kitties pee/poo in the Litter Robot.

Chabifa reminds us of a little dog. She has certain dog mannerisms an dplays like a dog, eats like a dog, and imitates Bella at every chance she can get. She is very affectionate and needs to be with people. Although she is afraid of strangers and runs when the doorbell rings, she genuinely loves her pawrents and sibbies more than anything...

I promised my furbies that I'd provide them with a safe, nurturing environment where they will never have to hunger, work for food, or be unhealthy again. In our house, our furbies, including our dogs, are indoors only-- even Ruby our big Lab mix that sheds like crazy. We love all our furbies and will
continue to give them the best that time and money have to offer!


Lately though, I've been so busy with work and with fosters, and some adoption issues our small rescue has been having But I have never failed to spend time with little T getting her late evening work out!
Since we fostered Tabifa, we have TNR"ed countless adult ferals, feed at several colonies, and have tamed and socialized many so-called "unadoptable" kitties, many of whom were not the easiest cases to find homes for-- personality and/or looks wise

Tabifa- had Dad never come across your colony- this journey would not have begun... Our efforts have turned into a small but devoted rescue group!

We think to ourselves how easy it would've been to recue and adopt tame kittens and cats. But we have chosen to work with ferals, as these are the kitties that need us the most, and don't have a lot of
rescues that are willing to work with them...

In fact, there are NO rescues you can call in this area if you find feral kittens. Nobody will take them. Unless you want to foster and socialize them, nobody will take the kittens. That's why we tame down
kitties, and we even have a whole slew of older kitties that aren't quite feral but very shy. They all seemed to have been owned at one point b/c they were touchable from the start...

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