It’s me: Susan. Co-founder (with Sherry), shelter manager, and litterqueen at Challenger’s House. I live in 2 rooms at the shelter and manage the daily goings on, volunteers, foster homes, Petsmart, you name it. We have so many wonderful people who help take care of the cats at the shelter, Petsmart, and a few very experienced foster homes. Fred and Robyn seem to always have foster babies (and/or adults) and you Love and Hisses followers/readers have certainly become friends of Challenger’s House.
Many of you jump right in with your contributions when called upon to help even though I know you probably have organizations in your own areas who are also benefiting from your generosity. I hope you know how much we appreciate your support. You guys are the greatest! So, keep reading and if you haven’t already, get one of those great calendars (I get one every year) so you can be reminded of some cute and cuddlies throughout the day.
Thanks again for loving and caring for animals in need and for (some of you) adopting Challenger’s House cats. Thanks to Fred and Robyn for raising sweet, healthy, totally adoptable kitties, and to their permanent residents who put up with a house(room)ful of little ruffians that invade their space.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday and wish all of you a very Happy New Year. Stay safe and take good care of your four legged friends.
I just wanted to make sure that everyone saw this!
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Oh my gosh, I love that video with Tubby and Mister Boogers. I love his little “nub” switching back and forth. So Cute!!
Boy, you can tell that video is old, can’t you? It’s from 2003, and Mister Boogers was a kitten. (For a brief period of time I called him “The Bean,” and then he revealed his true name to us.)
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In the picture: “We have liftoff!” – oh my, the belleh and the back feetsies!!!
and
It also reminds me so much of Robyn’s great shot of baby Tommy, though with the quilt and shadows this one also has a kaleidoscopic feel.
I have to be honest, I didn’t even think of that picture of wee Tommy when I uploaded the one of Stefani and her brothers, but I definitely see the resemblance.
That picture of Tommy with Sugarbutt and their sister Little Cal on the floor encouraging him continues to be one of my favorite pictures of all time.
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The part about Pharrell and the toilet paper made me think of this pattern I have!
I LOVE that! (I so need to get back to cross-stitching, I have a million pictures I want to get done!)
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And was this a record for the number of house panther fosters you’ve had in a year?
Possibly! By my count, I had 11 house panthers – the only litter I fostered that didn’t have any house panthers at all was Lucy and her Fools (we had a tuxie, but no house panther). One day, I’m going to get organized and go through all my fosters and classify them by colors for each year, and then I’ll be able to tell you that I’ve had X number of house panthers/tuxes/brown tabbies, etc.
(Today is not the day I get organized and do that, and tomorrow’s not looking good, either.)
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I hate to begin with a plea for help, but I need to boost the signal on this. It’s a 12 year old cat with a herniated disc, and their owner wants to do it but needs help affording it. If you can’t pitch in, I’d really appreciate a signal boost on this one.
I just went to the Go Fund Me page to see how much more Milton’s family needs, only to find out that, sadly, he passed away a few days ago. I’m sure they could still use help paying the vet bills he left behind, if anyone can spare a few dollars.
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I ordered these sneakers today; aren’t they adorable?! Don’t you need a pair Robyn?!
They are, and I do! (No I don’t! Yes I do!)
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All your photos of sunshine and kitties makes me smile. Here’s something to brighten your day:
I LOVE this!
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I love that you were THISclose to adopting Phelps. You are certainly more brave than I would be with letting the little darlings go. This reminds me again how much I would love a series that tells us which kittens were your favorites in all of the litters you’ve fostered. It would add a delightful new perspective to what you do. Any chance?
Mayyyybe… but probably not, to be honest, because I feel guilty for even having favorites!
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Another interesting webpage for cat introductions is at The Way of Cats.
Thanks for sharing this!
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Shecky sure has grown from his days as the one-eyed periscope!
He certainly has!
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Hi Robyn. I noticed when you spoke of Alice, you at one time thought she may have FIP. Have you ever had a permanent or foster contract it?
2 weeks ago, I lost my beloved Sugarbutt look-alike 13 yr old Basil to what the vet figured was FIP.
He stopped eating and drinking on a Sunday, and was very dehydrated when we got to the vets Monday morning. They did bloodwork and found his white bloo cell count was through the roof. No fever or pain, and nothing really certain. They kept him overnight and called first thing to tell me he was having trouble breathing and that they had put him in an oxygen chamber to help him. By the time I got there, it was confirmed that his lungs and chest were filling with fluid, and I had to say goodbye to my sweet boy that I’d had since he was 5 weeks old.
It was so quick that I was in shock for the first couple of days and his brother Monkey-who had gotten outside and was missing for 7 weeks but came back,spent the first night without Basil walking from room to room crying, looking for him.
I had never heard of FIP before. Have any of your readers ever dealt with it?
Leanne, I’m so sorry for your loss of Basil, especially after having to deal with the stress of Monkey being gone so long.
Gretchen is right, we lost Elwood to FIP three years ago. As I understand it, there are two forms of FIP, wet and dry. I noticed that Elwood had lost some weight, and took him to the vet. We were able to keep him with us for about three more weeks using steroids; his lungs and abdomen didn’t fill with fluid, so I guess that he had the dry form.
I think that the average cat owner isn’t aware of FIP, there’s not a lot of information out there about it, and it’s hard to diagnose, because diagnosis comes through process of elimination. I know that Connie at Tails from the Foster Kittens lost a foster kitten to FIP – she has several posts referencing FIP that you might want to read, and Random Felines lost not only a foster to it recently, but also their beloved Coral in 2014.
There’s
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“What you want, lady?”
Stefani loves to touch my nose with hers – all the Coaches do, actually.
Levine has about had enough of my shenanigans.
Stefani, snoopervising.
It’s a Shelton in a basket.
“MY basket, lady. You get your own!”
::thlurrrp::
So, we put Stefani, Levine and Shelton in the closet for a few minutes, and let King Nubbs check out his future kingdom.
He checked out the scratching post.
He examined his castle.
He said “Lots of toys, as befitting a king. I could live here!”
I opened the closet door and let his three new friends out. I’d intended to take him right back downstairs and wait to introduce them face to face another time, but Shelton came barreling out across the room to see what the what.
That’s King Nubbs/Pharrell on the higher shelf, and Shelton on the lower. Shelton seemed to know SOMETHING was different, but not exactly what.
Today, the king meets his subjects. Pictures on Monday!
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Poor Joe Bob. I got the carrier out of the closet the other day, because Dennis was going to the vet (just his usual yearly checkup, no problems at all). Joe Bob knows the sound of that closet door opening, and the ONLY thing it means to him is that the carrier is coming out (even though I open that door pretty regularly, since there are other things in there). Joe Bob did what he always does when he suspects there’s a carrier coming his way.
“You can’t get me!”
Eventually, once Fred headed off to the vet with Dennis, Joe Bob came back down. Silly boy.
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Previously
2015: Teef. I see a little row of little teef.
2014: They looked at us and said “We never SAID we were stuck. You just assumed!”
2013: “What can I say? I’m lubbable.”
2012: No entry.
2011: No entry.
2010: They sure are kissable, these kittens.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: Moonman has seriously come out of his shell. (Note: “Moonman” is now “Joe Bob”!)
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.