Best Day Ever

 

I will not try to choose my best day ever.  We all have so many days that qualify for THE day.  At least I hope we all do.

Instead, I want to talk about creating the best day you can have today. Every day has its challenges and its high points.  

I have 17 cats in my house right now - and a dog.  Yes it is a lot.  For those of you who aren’t cat fans, it seems like way too many and it probably is but I am not a hoarder or a breeder and I am not a fan of either.  I am a foster for a local rescue and we ‘specialize’ in bottle babies without their Mom.  It started 11 years ago when we took in kittens that needed a place to go. 

There were only 3.  One of them was neutered and started having mobility issues.  We kept him.  He’s 11 now, and we had 3 cats at the time. The others have passed on.

Then we got 4 bottle babies and wanted to keep two but friends who were going to adopt the other two could not so we kept all 4 of them.  

We lost a cat earlier this year from cancer, and when the rescue called about bottle babies a week or so old, they joined those 5 current cats and 1 tolerant Chihuahua who constantly seems to not even see any of them.  

So we got Mork and Mink - sisters- who are now 6 months old, and Mork leaves Tuesday for her new family who she chose for herself when we went to kitten yoga.  Mink has a meet and greet later in the week, so she has a chance to find her family too. 

When M&M were weaned, we were asked if we could take a ginger Mama and her 3 babies.  We thought GREAT - she’ll feed them and we can get some sleep.  She did, but they are less snuggly than the kittens we hand bottle feed.  We named Mama cat Ginger because she is a female ginger cat and only 20% of ginger cats are female.  She had a ginger son and 2 tortie girls. Gilligan, Lovey and MaryAnn.  IFYKYK. They are almost 5 months old.  Ginger is around a year or so. 

Kittens were overwhelming this year and another foster had a LOT so we were asked if we could help with a few of hers.  We took - you guessed it - the bottle babies. Scarecrow is the only boy, and his sisters Pumpkin, Willow, Raven and Nutmeg.  

If you lost count,  that’s 16 - 5+2+4+5. 

Oh but wait, there’s more.  The local animal shelter, somewhere in the madness, posted a 20-year-old cat whose Mom had died and my brain said that can’t happen and went as soon as possible to adopt him and bring him home.  He lives in our room.  We’re still trying to get mats out his long fur but his hair is growing.  He is thin but doing well.  We may have him for a few more days or weeks or months.  

Yesterday. we got word that a cat that had been returned by his family was having great anxiety and he was placed in an adoption ‘box’ at a local Petco to get some attention with hopes that he would be seen and adopted. I helped do his intake.  I made him comfortable in his 4-chamber condo but he was scared.  I hated leaving him there. Today, I got a call that he had a potential adopter who wanted to meet him so I told my partner, Lee - the cat lover - that I had to go and see him so this adopter could get to know him better.  He said, “I was surprised you didn’t bring him home with you last night.”  I said, “Where would we put him so he could decompress? We have cat in the bedroom, the family room, the living room, our bedroom.”  And then he said, “We could put him in my office.”  So tonight, we have 17 cats in the house, and a dog.  Some are going to their family soon, some only need good food and a clean litter box, and fresh water and attention.  Some need constant laundry and feeding and bathing and and snuggles and exercise and potty training.  The big ones need more snuggling because they put up with less attention.  The adopted ones need time and love because soon they’ll be gone on to their life after us.

Today was the best day for them.  Today we made a difference in their lives.  We contributed to our community and honored our belief that their lives matter.  

Spay and neuter people.  Foster/Adopt/Donate to your local rescues.  Share your love!