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CATS & DOGS FOR OBAMA!!!

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...

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times...

Monday, march 30, 2009
Its been a week since Cheyenne, our rescued Maine Coon kitten went missing. My uncle struggled many times whether to release her back. But I made him stand firm because I don’t believe in releasing a former feral kitten back after you’ve kept the kitty for several weeks. The cat can’t survive in that outdoor environment, and loses valuable training skills.

Just last week Sunday, March 23, She was adopted into a wonderful new home, but the new owner didn’t follow my instructions, and didn’t keep her confined to a small room. It was too soon, because that very night, she escaped through a small gap in the window. It was a narrow gap, but the screen was loose. Also, the new owner didn’t discover her cat was missing until the next night, so she had escaped for a full 24 hours before she was discovered. She was originally going to be adopted into a different home, but that family decided not to adopt because they didn’t want to drive 26 miles (yes, it was the worst & lamest excuse, as I’ve had people drive 70 miles one way to see one of my kittens).

We are devastated by this incident. She lives in an area crawling with coyotes and other wildlife, and its university housing so the complex is huge and vast. There are large bushes everywhere, with tons of places to hide. Rabbits running rampant, and large dumpsters that conceal every putrid culinary pleasure. The new owner has tried looking for her at night (after 10 PM), daily since her disappearance, put lost posters everywhere, re-set the food in the live humane traps in different locations, but so far, nothing. Nobody has seen her, and now I’m worried she’s dead. My uncle has gone to the complex himself, cruising the property for hours, looking for her several times that week and setting extra traps in different areas. Still no luck. The new owner is giving up, as she only had Cheyenne for a few days and not more.

I keep thinking in my head about what went wrong. A snowball of events that led to this misfortune. If that adopter hadn’t cancelled, I would’ve adopted to him or to the several people who called after her. I thought she would provide a great home, the only reservation I had was her age (she’s 22). I’ve learned my lesson the hard way, and I will not adopt out to anyone under 25 or so, unless I have some additional assurances that the person is wise beyond his/her years. Also, she’d escaped earlier that week, but within 5 days we found her. That too was a small miracle b/c I was wrapping up the drop trap after waiting for 2 hours on a weekday, and she hadn’t shown up. But my Dad had driven up with her in one of the traps he’d set back there. The difference is that in that prior incident, the cat had actually been seen twice, though not every day and it was close to where she used to live.Then, the fact that the new adopter didn’t confine the cat, and even after she almost escaped during the adoption when being handed to the adopter’s friend, it was not enough for her to pay heed and confine her and check ALL her windows. So if she hadn’t left that window open, this wouldn’t have happened either. Anyways, I still blame myself for what happened. I shouldn’t have adopted to her. Granted, everyone else who called lived even further away, and lived in homes or townhouses where access to back areas would be even more difficult but I can’t help but regret my decision.

I was very depressed yesterday because of this, as I was already on the verge of burnout from doing so much rescue in spite of a full time, 70 hour a week job including weekends. My uncle is exactly the same way, but worse. We both agreed that once we are done with TNR for the last colony near his home, no more rescuing on our own. I barely have time to take care of my own 4 furbies, plus work, and my poor husband never seems to get enough time with me either. And adoptions were going smoothly until Cheyenne vanished. I guess you can only learn from your mistakes, and move forward. This morning, I resolved to do just that, and have decided to let it go…All my guilt, my repeating the incident over in my head, I’ve gotta just let it go. Things like this do happen, though they are unfortunate, and I just have to DEAL.

Tuesday, march 31, 2009
Today is a NEW day! Yay! I’m over the whole Cheyenne incident, and no longer will spend anymore time wallowing in my guilt and regret. No mas. Life is short, and there are more kitties who need me.

On the bright side: We received an email last week from mighty’s parents that he is doing great! They say he is fearless, playful, affectionate and growing well. We will be visiting him soon, that’s for sure! I also got a surprise email from Gizmo’s Dad and he is so spoiled and doing great. He is so cute and adorable with his little German moustache. We also got Merlin adopted to a really nice lady this past weekend who loves Meezers, so he was truly our little Cinderella. He wasn’t even properly posted for adoption but we had one of his pictures up, and that’s the pic she noticed. She came to our home for over an hour to spend time with him to see if he would be the next great kitty for her. She is very knowledgeable about kitties, and clearly intends to spoil Merlin! So there were a lot of good things, and just one bad thing (Cheyenne). Furthermore, my 2 former ferals are going up for adoption through Meoowz Resq. They are both getting more accustomed to being held, and they now meow. They still need some attention, but they are really coming around. I just need a couple weeks more and they should be MUCH better. Once I can start playing with them with toys, they will be much easier to handle.

So far, we have 5 rescued kittens left. They are all older, but Hershey and Harlow are the youngest pair. After these 5, we're taking a break, and going back to fostering with a rescue group.

Lucky Number S'eleven

Lucky Number S’Eleven

Meowm has been ITCHING to update this site with all that has happened lately. Unfortunately, she’s been bogged down at work, and has worked weekends and 80 hour weeks lately. Needless to say, she comes home exhausted, but 99 percent of the time, she makes time to play with me every night (one night, she got home, washed her face, got into her jimmies, and passed out). I have a specific toy, this dangly thing from Walmart that I insist on playing with, and I don’t like to play with Dad—it has to be Meowm! Haha She’s got a special technique that I love that Dad hasn’t been able to replicate just yet. Heehee So she makes sure we have our playtime, and I go to bed a happy little kitten

Although Meowm has been busy, Dad has been picking up the slack for her, esp. the last several months. She tells me what a wonderful husband and Dad he is, as he cleans the house, gets dinner ready most nights, and takes care of us even sometimes coming home during lunch to let the dogs go potty outside. He feeds all 4 of us our special diet concoctions every night, takes the dogs on walks, takes the dogs out regularly for potty breaks, and plays with us kittens with our favorite toys. He also gives us plenty of snuggle time when Meowm isn’t home, so he’s been absolutely instrumental to Meowm not losing her sanity despite her sleep deprivation and physical fatigue. Meowm has never worked these kinds of hours, but she is really GRATEFUL in this plummeting economy for extra work, such that she rarely has a bad day. Gratitude = good mood (well, most of the time)!

Meowm was studying for an important licensing exam back in October and November, and Dad had to pick up the slack then too. She would come home after work, and konk out for a few hours, then hit the books. The weekends were the same- just studying and cleaning. The night before her exam, Meowm became nervous about the exam, as she always does before any exam. And while I usually sleep next to Meowm and Dad at about 3-4 AM every night, this particular night, I came to sleep several hours earlier. I also cuddled up right next to her arm, and rested my little tiny chn on her arm to let her know that everything was going to be OK. I could sense her exhaustion, her anxiety, and what not, and I wanted to make her feel better. And boy did it work! She took the exam the next day, and found out she passed about a week and half later! She was so stoked, and she says it really helped her to have my soothing purr lull her to sleep, and to feel my tiny paws kneading her lightly as I fell asleep in her arms…

Meomw and even Dad become more enamoured of me every day. They love me for my unique qualities- Meowm says I’m super quirky and idiosyncratic, just like her, so we have a special bond I don’t like it when she holds me in her arms like a baby, and I squirm to get away, but I do like plopping down on her lap, on her computer, and resting my chin and/or feetsies on her arms whenever I can. I also love to roll on my belly in front of Meowm, and get belly rubs. My fave thing to do at 4 am at night, is to jump into bed with Meowm and Dad. I squeeze right into the center of the two of them, and Meowm scooots over so there’s enough space for me to sprawl out. Then, I end up purring the night away which both of them find soothing AND I benefit from dual body heat on both sides. Hehehe They hope I continue to be snuggly and sweet as the months, and then the years go by…

Meanwhile, I get along swimmingly with the resident dog, Bella. Although she has these crazy hyperactive spells and bum rushes me like a football player charging for the finish line,I know she means no harm. That’s why I love to snuggle right up to her, and sleep side by side with MY dog. Yep, she’s mine b/c even though she never does what I say, she loves ME! Hehe I don’t know why I love that dog so much,but I really like to sleep with her. I also seem to be emulating her—as I wrestle with HER toys in the same manner that she plays with her toys, I fetch like she does, I sleep and roll over on my belly like she does, and I cuddle like she does. I also get along great with my older cat bro—he’s only a little over 1 year old and he is the little Buddha in our house—like the eye of the cyclone—so calm, so centered, so unfazed. Meowm hangs out with him whenever she needs to calm down, as his very soothing aura puts her into a more palliative, calm state of mind. He is my big bro and we’re best buds too. We sleep in the cat tree together, though we sleep in different rooms on the cat tree. We groom and lick each other all day, and compete to sleep in my faux lion bed which I kindly share with him. He is a small adult cat, but still he’s bigger than me, so it gives me less space to sleep on the lion bed. Hehehe

As for the lucky 11, it has been a miracle that Meowm and Grandpaw found homes for so many kittens. They were tough cases—older than 3 months, shy to varying degrees, not the prettiest colors or eyes, and even one that was all-black at 6 months old, and another that went blind in one eye. Most of them were about 5-6 months old, so we thought it would take longer to get them adopted, but they went to such lovely homes. Meowm still keeps in touch with some of them, and has heard back from EVERY owner as to their new kitty. Some went to multi-cat homes, others went to homes with affluent owners, and some went to homes without other kitties where they are being spoiled to bits.

Meowm has worked with Dad previously, and recently, with Grandpaw to rescue kittens, get them healthy and pest-free, vet-checked and treated, spayed/neutered, then find great homes for all of them. It has been kittens non-stop since July of this year, and boy, just when meowm thinks she’s going to take a break, Grandpaw brings home more kittens. He can’t help it I guess—he’s been doing that since Meowm was a kid (guess its somehow genetic too). Since she’s been so busy at work, Grandpaw now does the tough part—the trapping, the daily care, removing fleas, deworming, vet visits, spay/neuter, post-surgery treatment, and socializing them, b/c most of the time they are feral. Meowm handles the adoptions—she writes their adoption ads, handles all correspondence and communicates with the adopters, and usually shows up for the adoptions to handle the adoption, and make sure each of the kittens finds the right home. She’s lucked out b/c ALL of the homes she’ s adopted kittens to went to such nice, accommodating owners…Even the ones who didn’t end up adopting from her ended up being really great people as far as she can tell…In any event, it doesn’t stop there—she and Grandpaw have 3 kittens waiting in the wings, and at least 2 more after that. They’ve also got at least 5 adult cats to get fixed before kitten season hits, so tis a huge responsibility. Meowm doesn’t know how Grandpaw does it while running a full-time, 7 day a week business, but he cares so much for the kitties, and really is happy to see them go to such great homes….And when the kittens stop showing up, Meowm and Grandpaw will go back to fostering with a rescue group, as it will not cost them as much money and effort!