There are a lot of cats being named, and tagged in the sidebar! Who are they all?
Well, the six resident kitties, current ones first:
- Trick turned up at the door Hallowe’en 2004, and never left. Life is never boring with him around.
- Cory-Bear was our first foster-fail, a little black orphan in 2009 who stayed.
- Freya was supposed to be here short-term in 2010, once her kittens had homes and she was ready for her own forever home. She’s still here.
And then the heart-kitties:
- Nermal crossed the Rainbow Bridge in Nov 2003, due to chronic renal failure. He was 14 years old, started as a barn cat, came to the city with me, and adapted smoothly to my rather unsettled life at the time. He was my best friend.
- Loki crossed the Bridge in May 2010, 14 years old, from heart and lung issues. He was extremely clever and used his double extra polydactyl “thumbs” to do some remarkable things. He was well-named and very good at making me laugh.
- Angel crossed the Bridge in April 2014, at around 10 years old, and we really aren’t sure quite what happened, no joke. She was a loving and determined foster-mom to Eva and Cory, and a devoted nurse through some of Jackie’s worst chronic pain periods.
All three are much loved and badly missed.
Others here, more briefly as fosters or short-term rescues or otherwise, have been:
- Eva teh Diva, abandoned a day old, who developed a fan club who followed her early life as she beat all the odds and went on to a wonderful forever home
- PussPuss, the feral we inherited care of (May 2007 – Nov 2008)
- the Silver Cuddle Puddle (Ryu, Kate, Aurora, Zephyr) (KHS, 2009)
- other fosters for KHS in 2009 (Beauty and her kittens Benny and Belinda; the Sneezies Gambit, Stella, Danny, Nikki, Boomer, and Archie)
- Houdini (KAR, summer 2011)
- Cole (SNKI, Jan 2013)
- Kama (rescued, now with SNKI, Oct 2014)
(KAR = Kingston Animal Rescue * SNKI = Spay Neuter Kingston Initiative)
Not all of these made it to forever homes, and that hurts, but I’m grateful and delighted for the majority, who have.
Since our vet believes Cory acquired calicivirus at the shelter when he was very small, we no longer foster. As far as we know, no other cat has caught it from him, even vulnerable ones, but we’re reluctant to risk exposing even a single cat to a future involving health complications. As well, our current residents have all made it very clear that they will not easy tolerate intruders, even if separated. (I suspect small kittens might be acceptable, and Freya might even mother them… but there’s that calici risk.) So for the foreseeable future, any additions to this list will be only emergency situations, like Kama. It’s a tough call when I know there’s a perpetual need for more foster homes to save lives, but it’s the responsible path.
