Caturday: Jade

This gorgeous girl is Jade. She was just done with quarantine and being socialized a bit more when I left Tabby's Place earlier in 2009. Since spotlighted this week, read on about her a bit more:

Gender: Female
Age: 11 years
Breed: domestic shorthair
Color & markings: black/brown tabby
Personality: friendly, timid

Jade is a pretty brown tabby, about ten years of age (as of 1/2009). She has an old spinal injury that causes her to have an awkward gait. Right now, she's clearly not bothered by it, so we don't plan on pursuing further diagnostic testing unless she becomes uncomfortable or we see the condition worsening.

Jade is a little nervous at times, and she doesn't like quick hand movements going toward her. Personality-wise, she's a funny little thing. She gets along very nicely with most people and can be quite affectionate, but she doesn't like our Executive Director at all. It may be that she doesn't care for men, but we can't say that for sure; it's also possible that she doesn't care for the fact that Jonathan gives her medication (she's on an appetite stimulant right now). Meantime, because she is on the skittish side, we think she'd do better in a home without small children.

Jade really is a lovely girl, and we hope you'll soon come in to meet her.

I can't say what it was about this girl, but this poor girl always had my heart. She came in with a few others, but it was always Jade that I pushed with a bit more while socializing with her. I hope she finds her place.

PS: Almost my birthday. Almost my birthday!

Caturday: Bellis

I love, love, love Bellis! Love her!

She first came in while I was still working at Tabby's Place and apparently came back after I left. Here's a cute picture of her from the site and her information should you be looking for one very special girl to add to your family...

Gender: Female
Age: 3 years
Breed: domestic shorthair
Color & markings: orange/white tabby
Personality: friendly

Kitties don't come much more unique or incredible than our sweet Bellis. Prior to arriving at Tabby's Place Bellis was living as a stray, a hard life for any cat, but a near impossible life for Bellis who had two non-functional eyes. Thankfully, Bellis was found by an animal control officer and taken to a local shelter. Though very affectionate, Bellis was continually passed over by adopters at the shelter and the staff eventually deemed her unadoptable. Her fate would have been a grim one had her shelter not just come up on our waiting list.

Bellis arrived at Tabby's Place in April of 2008. Her non-functional eyes were terribly infected and uncomfortable, so she had surgery to have them removed. Yes, she looks a little different now, but she's beautiful all the same. Due to her blindness we try to limit the changes to environment, but incredibly she gets around just as well as any visual cat. She plays with toys, of course, the noisy ones are her favorites. She climbs and jumps and wrestles with the other cats. Bellis doesn't seem phased at all by her disability. This is likely the only life she's ever known and she's very happy with it.

Unfortunately, Bellis has developed the very inconvenient habit of inappropriate urination, as in she doesn't always use the litter box. We've determined that this is due to the fact that even though she has been spayed, she still experiences heat cycles. This is likely being caused by a small piece of uterine tissue that remains in her abdomen. Bellis is scheduled for surgery so that this tissue may be removed; however, even if the surgery is successful, we may not be able to break Bellis of this habit.

Undoubtedly, Bellis requires a special type of owner with a big heart and lots of patience. But, Bellis is well worth it. She has lots of love to give and will amaze you every day with her brave and carefree spirit.

Good luck finding a new home in the new year, Bellis! Lots of love, little miss.

Caturday: Max

Max here and he's looking for a home of his own. He's adorable and currently waiting at Tabby's Place in New Jersey.

Gender: Male
Age: 8 yrs
Breed: domestic shorthair
Color & markings: black/brown tabby
Personality: friendly, temperamental

Hmmm, how do I tell you about our Max? He's an extra-large boy (not fat, just quite big) with extra good looks; he's a brown tabby with white whiskers, as well as white on all four paws, his chest, throat, and tummy. Max is about 7 years of age (as of 11/2009), according to our best guess. He can be quite vocal, and he isn't shy about asking for attention. He enjoys head-butting people and will often sit in laps.
We believe that Max has Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome. He becomes overstimulated very easily; when this happens, he can become quite aggressive, although he has never hurt anyone but himself. When he first came to us, his symptoms were very severe. Over time, with a lot of patient attention and some medication, he has improved greatly. Currently, he's on oral phenobarbitol. Contrary to what you might expect, he's easy to pill, and we do not know if he would continue to require medication in a home environment.

Much of the time, Max is really a great boy---happy and purry and affectionate. However, due to his medical issue, we feel he would do best in a quiet home without small children or other pets. Other than FHS, Max has no medical issues.

If you think you might be able to provide a good home for our Max, we encourage you to come in meet this handsome guy.

Good luck finding a home, Max. I know you're in good hands

Caturday: Sonny

Meet Sonny. This handsome boy is in New Jersey at Tabby's Place. Read more about him below...

Gender: Male
Age: 5 years
Breed: domestic medium hair
Color & markings: black/brown tabby
Personality: friendly, playful

Sonny is a good-looking grey tabby with medium-length fur. He is, um, not small, but of course his fur makes him look larger than he really is. Sonny was adopted from us about three years ago, but he had to be returned when his owners suffered serious financial setbacks because of the current recession. We know he's about 4-1/2 now, and that he was very well looked after in his previous home.
Sonny has always been on the submissive side. He can live with other cats (in fact, he lived with two others in his previous home), as long as they're not too domineering. Because he can be skittish, he should not go to a home with small children, especially as we know that he greatly dislikes being held. His previous owner has told us that Sonny rarely used his scratching post and would scratch furniture, something to note if you have a home full of antiques.

Despite his skittishness, Sonny can be very friendly. If you do something he doesn't like, he'll let you know right away---but with sheathed claws. We know that Sonny can be a wonderful friend for the right person or persons; won't you come in to see our fluffy boy today?

Sonny, of course, is extra special to me since he's a Tabby's Place cat. He's very lucky to be there, but would be even luckier if he had a home of his own to spoil and love him.

Loss

His memorial isn't even up yet, but I was informed recently by a friend and former co-worker that another one of my favorites, Albert, at Tabby's Place has passed on ... I feel so out of touch now that I not only don't work there, but am not even close enough to volunteer. This marks the third cat I have loved deeply and lost recently that I know of.

Without fail, Molly had my heart from the moment I met her. I took pictures of her and her "sibling" Courtney while they were still in their quarantine cages. Courtney was younger and Molly had some health problems, so Courtney was adopted out while Molly remained at Tabby's Place. Molly stole hearts, walking around during morning meetings, picking a lap to lay in and then randomly freaking out: swatting or trying to bit her "chosen" lap's person. She just looked like this little old lady you couldn't help but love and that voice of hers' - too funny! I would have adopted her in a heartbeat if I didn't have all of my kids already. I will forever think of her all curled up in a bed on top of this pink blanket she occasionally laid on. God, I loved her!



And then there's little Nicky, Nikki, Nickey - the spelling of her name was never quite determined, I think, and remained a mystery. She was amazing, beautiful and one of those quiet souls. I loved her as well. Angela has always had a way with words and that was no different when she wrote in memory of this special girl.



And my Albert - I can't honestly tell you what really got his claws into me. He was a male black cat and, obviously, I have a soft spot for them since I have 3, but it was more than that. It was his attitude when you had to get blood to check his blood glucose level, the way he could curl up where ever, the swagger he had as he excitedly ran into his cage for dinner and his sad eyes. I adored that boy!


If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to Heaven and bring you home again.
No farewell words were spoken, no time to say good-bye,
You were gone before I knew it, and only God knows why.
My heart's still active in sadness, and secret tears still flow;
What it meant to lose you no one can ever know.
But now I know you want me to mourn for you no more,
To remember all the happy times; life still has much in store.
Since you'll never be forgotten, I pledge to you today:
A hallowed place within my heart is where you'll always stay.

A quiet goodbye...

On my private journal. Feel free to email me if you want access.

Tabby's Place - Donny

I felt the need to blog about Donny today. He’s in need of some good thoughts, friends, and some extra special attention – via my blog right now since he needs his sleep as well.

“Donny Brook”, better known around here as Donny, is an adorable little marmalade boy that came to Tabby’s Place towards the end of the summer of 2008 (I was out after my surgery when he first arrived). He, along with his little family, came to us from a shelter in NY when he was still very little and nursing from his mom. Just when Donny was big enough to be fixed and potentially be adopted, we found out he had ringworm and into treatment he went … and remained for a very long time.

After being treated for ringworm for about 4 months (because several kitties that we got from that NY shelter had the most persistent damn darn ringworm), Donny was finally out of a cage and free to run around our lobby area. He was able to be socialized by all, loved up, have play time with his brother Ulysses and our paraplegic boy, Tashi, and was able to seen by the nice people that come to visit us here at Tabby's Place – all new things after being caged for so long due to that pesky ringworm, all things that could lead him to finding a great home of his own – and he did! A volunteer fell for that sweet face of his.

However, while out and running around, it was noticed that Donny had a funny way of walking … and running … and lying around. Then, the thought occurred to us, “Hey, maybe all that hissing and 'attitude' was not poor socialization, but a reaction to pain? Maybe there was something wrong with our boy?”

As it turns out, Donny has luxating patellas in his hind legs, meaning his knee caps have a tendency to slip in and out of place. Although some cats do fine with this condition, Donny appears to be very uncomfortable. We were told he definitely needs surgery on one knee, most likely needs surgery on his other knee and depending on how those surgeries go, Donny might also need a third surgery done on his one hip. That would be three surgeries his intended adopter could not plan for or possibly even pay for. Not to mention, just when he got out of a cage and free from ringworm, he’ll need to be on strict cage rest for at least 2 months after surgery, which means Donny might be caged for the next 6 – 9 months if he needs all 3 surgeries.


Donny already had one surgery at the end of the last week and Donny’s in a great deal of pain now. Not only is recovery rough in general, but the poor guy just wants to get at you for some love and that means he's moving and causing himself incredible pain!

Have you ever known someone that needed knee surgery done? Do you know how much you use your knee throughout the day? Now imagine having a surgery to fix your knee (possibly even involving shaving away at the bone so that the knee cap can fit properly) and no one being able to explain to you not to use it! Donny has no idea that just lying in one place with make life easier (not "pain-free", but definitely more stable). The best we can do is provide pain meds, make sure there’s a lot of padding around him and remind Donny that we love him (which, of course, includes signing his bandages).

Please send Donny some good thoughts ... and donations are always appreciated. It is generous people just like you who have taken the time to read this that allow Tabby's Place to care for kitties like Donny and the rest of the cats here.

On a totally different note: things that rock – Hocus Pocus ... but I've missed most of it, so I'm going to watch Medium instead since that rocks too

*note - check out the labels and you'll see "TP". I've said this before and I'll say it here again, I do that to try to keep my personal blog from popping up on search engines for my work place, but since this entry is about Donny and the amazing work Tabby's Place does, I referred to this great place by its proper name in this entry.

Ruby

That is my Ruby ... well, was my Ruby - yesterday I surrendered Ruby to my place of employment.

For some time now, I have attempted to integrate Ruby into my apartment. I kept her (and the other kitty I saved from this disgusting shelter, Candice) in the bathroom for almost a year, switching blankets around, trading toys with my cats (siblings, Dani & Dorie) and I was also well aware that my kitties were sniffing at those kitties under the door. Things weren't going so well though because when I let them out, my kitties would spazz - hiding, hissing, but the biggest issue was them running because Ruby would chase them and with that crooked head of hers, she'd make a mess trying to keep her balance and the noise from that only freaked my kitties out even more.

I felt bad leaving her in the bathroom though because Ruby loves company so much and there wasn't much stimulation in there either even with her toothless buddy, Candice. So, I moved Ruby and Candice into a large crate in the middle of my apartment in the hopes that with everyone face to face, but Ruby unable to chase, that things would go more smoothly. My kitties still wouldn't adjust - hissing and eyes dilating when they saw the new cats and that's when they weren't hiding!

The reality is, Dorie I have strictly because of how very spastic she is. Though I have had her since she was about 6 weeks old, I had to wrap her up and carry her everywhere just to get her to how social she is now ... and she's barely social! No one really sees her and any sudden moves or loud noises cause her to run for cover. So, when overbearing Ruby approached her to check her out, Dorie would spazz and run ... and when Dorie ran, Ruby would chase. Candice did well though - she's quiet and not like Ruby at all. So, my most recent solution was to have the HH pair in my room all day while Dani and Dorie had the rest of my apartment and then, at night, I would put Ruby in the crate and allow Candice to free roam with my cats ... but Ruby would cry most of the night for affection and company. It broke my heart...

I know Ruby could not be in a better place -that's a fact- because TP has the money to further look into her severe head tilt if necessary (though it doesn't seem to bother her), she'll eventually be loose to play with all the kitties that will tolerate her, Ruby will have lots of volunteers to talk to and she'll have a much better chance of being seen & adopted than she did locked up in my apartment ... but I still feel awful. I've had her for so many months now that I've grown very, very attached. She's such a big, soft mush ball and so personable - talking so much that she even talked to herself at times and after surrendering her, I came back to Candice curled up all by herself - no Ruby pushing herself on her to cuddle. I cried all afternoon and still haven't brought myself to go into her holding her while she adjusts to being a sanctuary kitty. If it wasn't for how much Dorie got upset, I'd have kept Ruby and there's not doubt that Ruby & Candice could be the most wonderful pair of kitties a person could adopt together (laid back, quiet Candice and super sweet, glued to the comfiest spot/your side Ruby), but me being upset is strictly selfish. Like I said, Ruby's in the better place right now, even if it's not with me and/or Candice.

On top of feeling awful, I also felt like a complete creep doing her intake. My original plan was to take two of the sanctuary's more aggressive/more outside appropriate cats and the sanctuary would take Ruby. So, I didn't plan on letting her go until the Spring when it is warmer out to put kitties out to adjust to my parents' farm. She is late on getting her vaccinations because I was waiting until the end of the month to get Dani, Dorie, Candice and Ruby on the same schedule - getting the HH pair's a bit late and Dani & Dorie's a bit early so they would all be on track together. Ruby's paperwork from the shelter is unreliable too, for example: they had her as a male cat! Though looked at by a vet and vet tech and never going into heat, it was never actually determined if she was even spayed, but I also wasn't advised to do an exploratory surgery to check. Not to mention, I got her while still involved in my rescue, but within several months I resigned - leaving Ruby & Candice in my care, but with no real way of adopting them out or seeing a rescued discounted vet.

So, I turned over Ruby yesterday because she was spending most of her time in a cage and with her not up to date on shots, along with being unsure if she's been unfixed for over a year in my care and ... talk about looking like a bad pet parent! As if I didn't feel lame enough surrendering her in general!!

For months now Ruby & Candice have been living together (Ruby loves to snuggle with Candice ... though I'm not sure how much Candice liked it). The pair mushed together was and remains in my mind to be a perfect example of their two personalities - Candice always tolerant and Ruby so extremely overbearing affectionate. When I came in to get Ruby yesterday, she was curled up on the bed with Candice. She popped her little crooked head up and did her high pitched meow at me. I was pretty good at not crying until I was on my break and a lone ... sort of.

Here's the last photo I took of Ruby & Candice in their classic snuggling up together way before surrendering Ruby...

Rhubarb...

Although it's a Thursday (as in Dogs on Thursday), today I'm writing about a kitty who was definitely about the size as a lot of dogs - Rhubarb. Look at him with me back in October (at our 5th Anniversary celebration and microchip event). He's huge!

Rhubarb came in to where I work with extremely awful bowel issues - he had explosive diarrhea! And by explosive, I mean it! It would be all over his cage and bedding while he was in our holding room and with that long coat of his, well, it wasn't pretty! We tried lots of diets, different combinations of medications and went through several grooming sessions to either brush out dried poo or just flat out shaving his back end! After some adjustments, he finally seemed to be doing really well on certain medications and one of the special diets seemed to be working for the most part ... and that's when Rhubarb actually found a wonderful home to call his own! At work, we were all terribly excited for him.

Rhubarb went home right before Christmas and was spoiled! He was living with two special Huskies and a human family that included 3 small children. Sadly, over the weekend, Rhubarb started crashing. In the time period of just 48 hours, he lost half a pound of weight. He was not eating, was in liver failure, had pancreatitis and we were afraid something else was going on (lymphoma?) maybe. The decision was made late Monday evening to end his awful suffering.

He was a truly exceptional cat - both in size and personality. He's unforgettable and I'm glad he found a family to love him before he became so sick. We'll miss you, sweet boy.

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cute little Zelda hiding because she's still nervous...

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How beautiful is Griselle?? It's not the best picture of her, but you can't deny she's really pretty! And you can't see it in the photo, but she's got a cute little stubby tail too.

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Scooter's out!!!

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I've taken a lot of photos of Emma at work over time ... they're mostly for Joyce since she loves her so much :)

Tony

This boy is sweet, sweet Tony and there's not enough good things to say about him. He's such a fighter. It's been more than a year since his diagnosis with Acromegaly and he's still going strong!

Acromegaly causes the body to produce excessive amounts of growth hormone. This can lead to a number of life-threatening complications, including heart disease (which Tony has now, also). In addition, the excess growth hormone interferes with the body's ability to utilize insulin and often leads to uncontrollable diabetes.

You can read more about him and the other special cats at the sanctuary here.

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How cute is Hootz in this photo?! I had to take the photo while working.

FeralStat

Recently I’ve been doing some research regarding feral cats. When I posted this fact out to some rescue/feral networks I know of asking for advice, I got back one particular email that I thought was interesting, informative and definitely sparked my curiosity as I had not heard of the sterilization drug before – one would think, as I did, that if there was such a “wonder” drug out there, it would be very popular and well known … even if it was really expensive for more independent trappers or colony caretakers.

Here is the email I received so you know what I’m talking about: (Note- I’ve altered some of the email to protect the person it came from just in case they’ve sent out the same email to other people)
FeralStat is a medicine which stops the females from going into heat. You just add a small amount of FeralStat once a week to the wet food when feeding a colony to stop the females from going into heat. FeralStat does not harm males or kittens that eat it.

FeralStat is great for situations like if you have several females in the colony which you cannot catch to spay or if is simply overwhelming or impossible to get someone to trap/neuter/release the colony. It cost about $65 for a 4-month supply (cheaper than feeding more cats). Sometimes it is impossible to get someone to help with trapping and releasing so FeralStat is a good option to prevent more kittens.


And the attached information went on to say: “FeralStat™ is a synthetic progestin that has FDA approval for off-label use as a feline oral contraceptive to postpone estrus in cats. In other words, it keeps female cats from coming into heat … Although it is designed for female cats, FeralStat™ has been given to male cats, pregnant females, and kittens who are sharing the food supply with no report of negative side effects.”

Again, my initial thought was: ingenious! Followed by: why haven’t I heard of this before? So, with the question of a sterilization drug in mind, I emailed our senior veterinary technician at my place of employment. I asked if she could please provide me with whatever information she could on the subject since I did not know anything about the drug.

She wrote me back saying:
I have never heard about this drug before and am in the process of researching it. I will also talk to Dr. C about it on Monday. So far, all I can find is a lot of mixed reviews. It has not been approved for cats by the ACC&D yet and there is not enough research on it to provide a lot of medical data. There is the belief that it can cause some long term problems in feral cats such as diabetes mellitus, mammary swelling and tumors, uterine disease, pyometra, and skin disorders. Contrary to the article sent to you, the ACC&D states that it has also not been FDA approved. There is also the argument out there that the long term risks are worth it to help lower the population of feral cats by not allowing reproduction and keep them from suffering death by starvation, weather and environmental changes, disease, hit by cars, etc. Here is the statement issued by the ACC&D and one other article.
http://catsinthenews.blogspot.com/2008/07/feralstat-contraceptive-accd-statement.html
http://wildrun.blogspot.com/2008/07/neighborhood-cats-on-feralstat.html

I was also a bit disappointed that this information promoting FeralStat happened to come from an individual that works with a shelter and a spay/neuter van. Yes, such a solution is most definitely a step up from simply trapping and killing, but is it really safe? Is it really a good option to use, let alone advise people of? I mean, according to what my vet tech friend said (“ There is also the argument out there that the long term risks are worth it to help lower the population of feral cats by not allowing reproduction and keep them from suffering death by starvation, weather and environmental changes, disease, hit by cars, etc.”), their very excuses for using it despite the suspected side effects are the same vague, silly excuses used when trying to argue why trap & kill is better than letting the cats continue to suffer living lives outside – they’re just going to die awful, painful deaths anyway, best just to kill them now. Bull$hit!

As a victim of a vaccine that has continued to be used because “well, it’s good for most”, I felt a need to write a blog entry about this in case anyone else was given this disturbing, possibly very off-based information. It sounds like that this drug, in the long run, may be wonderful for colonies and colony caretakers (especially ones that have the “un-trappable” cat running around like most do), but dangerous for the individual cats long-term well being. Just because it’s good for most, preventing heat cycles and thus litters of kittens, doesn’t mean that it should automatically be sought out or given out.

Should I get any more updates from our senior tech at work, I’ll certainly share them. For now, I hope anyone considering the pros/cons of FeralStat gives this entry and the information provided to me some very good thought.

Can I Ask a Favor ...

My Sundays Are For Cats post is a bit random this week. I didn't really have a kitty in mind and yet one cat apparently decided to do me a favor and show up just yesterday!

I'm busy entertaining my cousin who was visiting and my mom called me yesterday saying that she heard this crying in the garage. At first she thought it was just one of our barn cats, but the crying was persistent and usually the barn cats aren't in that garage so close to the house anyway. So my mom went investigating and like a person lost for days in a desert running towards an oasis, a kitty my mom had never seen before came charging at her! Of course, my mom called me about this poor, starving cat who had been eating for an hour flat and was so sweet - letting her pick her right up.

Once off the phone, I started to think about what to do. My parents definitely don't need another barn cat, let alone a sweety like this one. Barn cats should be happy outside, not dying to be held :) After spotting what I believed was my boss's car in our parking lot, I went on out front and found him even though it was my day off: "Hey, how was your vacation? Uh, can I ask a favor??" And I got the okay to bring the kitty here!

And here is the cutie:

Seriously, how cute is she?! She's super pretty and now named Rhiannan. She actually looks surprisingly like another rare-looking kitty we just recently got here at work, Dove ... everyone keeps making the connection and I love Dove, but Rhiannan is a bit prettier, I think: she's got some orange mixed into her coloring. She's a big talker too, meowing and squeaking whenever anyone walks by her cage - which is rare since she's in a holding room right now. Only a few weeks though and I'm sure she'll be adopted quickly after that.

I'm not sure where she came from, but Rhiannan is very affectionate and somehow either found her way through acres and acres of woods to our garage or from the road, around the lake and across the field - either way, her appearance is quite random. I'm thankful that she's so mouthy though and kept yelling until my mom couldn't ignore it anymore. Because of it, Rhiannan's now inside, warm and safe. Today might have been unusually warm, but the temperature is supposed to drop again as soon as tomorrow!

Jan

For some reason, Jan just comes to mind when I think of fall - maybe it's her coloring. This girl comes off very shy (and she's definitely not a "petite" cat), but she's wonderful! I know this because she's another cat at my work place. Read a bit more about her and enjoy your holiday!

Jan is a mix of calico and tabby in most unusual markings, including a couple of sizable patches of orange. The effect is quite beautiful, as you might guess. Jan is a young cat, too---about two years old, we believe.


We don't know much about Jan's past, but she was one of four kitties we have who were abandoned in a carrier outside a vet's office. Jan was very frightened of us for some time, but she has made excellent progress here and now comes over for attention readily, which is delightful. She's a sweet, chunky little girl, and we're hoping to find her a home soon. Come in to see our furry "patchwork quilt"!

Update: Jan continues to make good progress. She's in our weight management room now, as she's really too chunky. But she's doing well with the cats in there, and, while still on the shy side, wants to find out what you're doing there whenever you come in. Jan has asthma, but it's very mild in nature (she requires no medication for it now), and we're hoping her symptoms will lessen still further as she loses weight.

Sabrina

I had planned to write today's post about my new foster kitten ... however, I found out that the little kitten I planned to foster was adopted!


That's right, my girl was adopted - straight from surgery too! Good news? Indeed! But I've got to think that my "bad luck" streak of fostering is continued here because I don't get her for any time at all. Selfish response? Yup. I won't deny that either :-)

Sabrina, pre-naming, came in with a horribly stripped and mangled front foot. Just looking at that foot created a literal gut reaction: the urge to up-chuck! I mean, she was rushed off to an emergency medical facility so quickly that the picture above is the only one of her, I think, and it's only because of my sick curiosity once seeing her injury. Her injury was so horrific that I blocked it out in the photo for your own sake. The top half of her one little leg was stripped of fur & skin. The bottom half was twisted all the way around & I don't think it was attached in any way.

She was named ("Sabrina" by the staff there) once at the emergency vet facility and apparently the one vet just kept repeating, "She's so sweet," over and over again about the kitten. Once it was determined that Sabrina definitely needed her leg surgically removed, I decided I'd foster her. I mean, she needed her leg removed and she is just a little baby - I figured foster care with me was better than in a cage where her muscles definitely wouldn't be given much of a chance to adjust.

Happy ending is, of course, before Sabrina was even out of surgery, she was adopted! A vet tech adopted her, so she gets to recover and adjust to her new home at the same time. So, Sabrina is this week's Sundays Are For Cats entry ... even if she's already adopted.

A Year!

I've had my job for a year!! How awesome is that?! I love it here. Love, love, love it here. There's just never a "bad" day and it's never a sad job like even some days at a "no kill" shelter can be.

The entry I wrote the day before starting, I hashed out my worries in and showed off some of the best parts of my apartment. Since moving in and setting, here are just a few more fun things around my apartment...

wall rack with 3 print pieces I like, a photo I took of Ali in a cornfield and one of me & Kate from my senior prom

a wall lamp my dad put together

important photos to me and a chunk of one of the shawls I have up on my walls

my wall of friendly reminders: an old, super nice pick-me-up from Ali including Bruce, my favorite flower and drawings of s'mores, including one that looks like a turkey lol, there's also an email from Livingston Taylor and a happy phrase to wake up to

a few of my favorite things: angel ornament with a good quote, the necklace I got in Belize with the symbol I got tattooed on me, another good quote and a note from Ali when I decided to move here

uh, yea, talk about character! My dresser is the one from when I was a baby ... and definitely has little baby lambs on it