The day we all knew was coming is here, you guys. I got word yesterday afternoon that there’s room for the Noms at Petsmart, so in a little while I’ll be leaving for Petsmart, all four of them in tow. It’s going to be sad and I’m sure I’ll be doing the “Wahhhhhhhhhhh! We could keep them! 18 cats isn’t that many!!!” all the way home.
I will, of course, let y’all know when they’re adopted. I’m hoping it’ll be SUPER soon! One thing’s for sure, it’s going to be very very quiet around here without them running around.
“We going WHERE?”
“But I’m comfy right here!”
One last shot of all four Noms, together.
Sweet Darwin looks suspicious that I might be about to grab her up and put her in a carrier.
Newbery’s not worried, though. Nothing fazes him.
Newbery and Razzie, hanging out.
“Trying to sleep here, lady. Go aWAY.”
Keeping my fingers crossed that Logie’s the first one adopted!
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The Taters belly up to the water bowls.
Looks like Kennebec’s eyes are changing. Interesting that his are changing so much more slowly than his sisters’ did, isn’t it?
Not only is she adorable with those huge eyes, but Agata’s also a sweet snuggle bunny.
That little basket’s the perfect size for Fianna.
“Well, I don’t know. It just doesn’t look structurally sound. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ticket you.”
Russet (who is currently nicknamed “Floofy”, because Fred rarely learns kittens’ names.)
Kennebec and The Floof. The new crime-fighting team, coming this Fall on AMC!
“You know you DID it, just ADMIT it!”
“I’ll be Bad Cop, Floof. You just sit there and look pretty.”
“HEY. I have a BRAIN, you know!”
“Of course you do.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Curled up next to his stuffed mama kitty.
His face was wet ’caused I’d just wiped him down.
“You gonna kiss me or what, lady?”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Newt, out standing in his field (ha!).
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Previously
2011: Greg Brady update!
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Drama Kitty is Very Dramatic.
2007: Tommy and Sugarbutt: Brudderly Love.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
I don’t mean to put unfair pressure on you, 🙂 but to me, every single face is saying “Don’t leeeeeave me!!!” 🙂
Oh, I knowwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!
“out standing in his field” – excellent!!!!
Cicero, if that lady doesn’t kiss you, I will!!!
Russet is GORGEOUS!!!
Wishing the Noms speedy adoptions and homes of their dreams!!!!
You have such willpower to be able to let them all go, i’m not sure i could. I Can’t resist a striped kitten!
And, are you gonna keep Russet? I mean, i know looks aren’t everything, but OH MY GOSH SO PRETTY!
No more permanent residents! We’re maxed out. 🙂
yea, you say that now..
It’s true. We all know Robyn’s track record….
Hey, now. We haven’t adopted any fosters since Alice, and that was well over a year ago! 🙂
Uh.. *coughRupertcough*! 😀
Oh beautiful Noms!! Awwwww!!! I hope they all get adopted asap – I hope they all go to great homes! Awww especially sweet Logie!! Thank you so much for sharing Mama Emmy and her babies’ stories here. Bye bye Noms!! I am weepy you are off but hopeful you will all be with good families soon!
Take care
x
Dya think you could post Cicero to Wales??
Or Florida??….postage would be cheaper here than to Wales!
I’m pretty sure planes fly from Wales to the US.. 🙂
hardly ever from Wales, cardiff is the airport they forget!
Miz Poo breathes a sigh of relief that the kittens will no longer be in her bed. The rest of us sigh wistfully and wish we were in Alabama to snatch up a Nominee or two or three or four. Godspeed, babies. Did you order special lighting for Miss Logie’s accommodations at Petsmart? We need to show off her stripeys!!!!
I would TOTALLY watch Kennebec and the Floof. Sounds like a perfect fit for TNT… right after The Closer or Rizzoli and Isles.
Cicero is just never allowed to grow up. I want him to stay this way forever… all tiny, cute, and milk-faced. If there is someway to engineer this, I will be there first thing Friday morning to pick him up.
Well said, Kelly! I agree all points!
Yeah…don’t let Cicero grow up!!
Godspeed, beautiful Noms, and I’m confident that Logie’s enchanting eyes will captivate the right family soonest! Fingers crossed that these ultra-winning pussycats will go home in pairs.
I’m glad the Noms are on their way to their homes, but it’s just so bittersweet. Maybe because I read Sue’s lovely post at Pitter Pats of Baby Cats before coming here!
I have mulled over getting into fostering once my two oldsters are gone, but I just don’t think I could let go.
Do you have any techniques for coping, Robyn? Is it just crying and swearing (I do those pretty well)? Do you focus on the remaining fosters and Permanent Residents? Are there many sleepless nights of misery?
I sure hope that the Noms get snatched up ASAP. And I hope Logie is the first to get adopted so I don’t have to think about her as just another black cat in a cage. She’s so much more than that.
I’ll go weep quietly in a hanky now.
Granted, my first two fosters are still in residence here but as far as letting them go…. I think it’s different for me because I knew from the very first moment that I thought about bringing them into my house that they are NOT mine. I love my fosters to death and would spend all day snuggling and kissing them if they would allow it, but they occupy a different place in my heart than the permanent residents do. It’s kind of like being a teacher (which I was before my own kids were born). You love your students and would do anything in the world to help them succeed while they are in your care, but you know they are not yours forever. Our job is to help them to the next level… permanent loving homes in the cases of our fosters.
That being said, check back with me the first time that I have to let one go. It won’t be easy, but I’ll bet it’s easier knowing that they will make someone else so very happy. My son has already asked to keep Penny, but I’ve explained that we can’t help the “next Penny” if we keep the first.
Execellent explaination to your son. I encouraged a friend to foster after her dog (16 yrs old) passed away, and before they were ready to get a new pet. She was concerned that her kids would get attached. (The fostering was to help a little one get over a URI so it was just for 2 – 3 wks.) I told her it was a great way to teach your children that it isn’t always about them. It is about giving of yourself and helping out someone in need. It ended up being a great experience for her family, even though she had tears in her eyes when she handed the little one back to the lady at the shelter. About a week after that, they adopted a chocolate lab from a flier I had sent around. That dog was meant to be with her family – the day they brought him home, they had a gathering of friends that evening and you would have thought he had been with that family since he was a wee little one. He was “home”.
I know that when I get OLD…to where I will not out live my pets, I will foster. I hear of too many stories where someone’s beloved pet ends up in a kill shelter because they pass away or end up in a nursing home and no family member will take in their pet. The thought of this would kill me. So, if I foster, then I help out little ones and my beloved will not ever be in danger.
Kelly, you saying “next Penny” reminded me of a cute song we used to sing in Sunday school, which my children did not. It was called “Magic Penny” and went something like this…
‘Love is something if you give it away, give it away.
It’s just like a magic penny…hold on tight and you won’t have any.
Lend it, spend it, and you’ll have so many they will roll all over the floor.’
The idea fits with fosters. You could change it to “Magic Kitty”!
Sometimes it is achingly hard, but what helps me is that with my house ‘full’ of cats now, I know adding new ones will not be good for them nor The Crew. I fought long and hard with myself before adopting Skippy (the youngest), even posting an apology to him on my blog about it. You remember why you own the number of cats that you do, and that by changing that the chances of you being able to foster change.
That and the next batch always helps ease the pain of losing the last batch.
(and generally by the time they are ready to go back for adoption they are very much like three year old humans at the end of a very long birthday party filled with too much candy and excitement.. you are often so ready for them to go so you can go back to the sedate and easier younger kittens)
Aww, the Noms are graduating. I’m gonna miss them. I hope they get adopted very quickly!
good luck Noms….we know your forever homes are out there waiting. 🙂
Love those taters and Cicero…..
awwww! The noms are leaving? I love seeing their faces every day! sniff sniff. I hope someone special gets Logie! more sniff sniff. I don’t how you do it! I’d have a cat farm if I fostered. And I can barely afford the two I have!
I’ve always said that if I won the lottery, the first thing I would do is buy an old horse farm (without horses because I’m deathly allergic and would spend my life in the emergency room if they lived within a mile of me). Anyway, after it had been sanitized, I would refurbish the stalls into living quarters for senior cats and dogs with furniture from the thrift store. They would each have their individual (or paired, if they’d like a roommate) apartment to retire to in the evenings and I would hire a vet to work out of the barn. So I guess that’s like having a cat farm. Excuse me while I go buy a lottery ticket… haven’t done that recently and I need to make this happen.
Could I be your assistant?
Me, too!
That is such a great idea! That would be the coolest place on earth! I would be worried sick about cats fighting, though. That always gets me worried. When we moved from where I’m from to my college city, 500 km away, we had to live for about three months at my parents’ place with all our boxes. My Chanie was quite young at that point, around 1, and my parents’ now very old cat was around 7 and they would fight because the older cat didn’t want Chanie in her space. So I kept Chanie in our room, but the door to that room was tricky and one time he escaped while we were gone. When we came back, I saw through the window that they were both sitting on the couch quietly. As soon as we crossed the door, they started fighting again. Brats. Back in our room he went.
That little tail of Cicero’s just KILLS ME DEAD. 🙂
Amen (and that little round body!!!)
Aww, goodbye sweet Noms! I’ll especially miss my sweet Darwin. When I read your post on my tiny iPhone screen this morning right after I woke up, as usual, and I saw the picture where you say that you hope Logie is the first one adopted, I thought “cool, you can really see her stripes in that light”… then I saw that she had a whole cat sitting on her. Lol!
Love The Floof and Cicero! They are adorbs!
The Noms were the first litter I actually got to watch growing up. I will miss them terribly, but I know they’re going on to their forever homes. It’s a wonderful thing you do, getting them ready for this, but I know it’s a mixed blessing.
We went grocery shopping last night, and I wanted to see what kind of food options were available for Niko at Wally World (don’t worry, I’m still going to go to a pet store as well). I got something called “Evolve” that contains no grains but rice, for the main population, and then something called “Freshpet” in the refrigerated section for Niko. Not only did he snarf it up, but he made the “Om nom nom” sound that kitties make when they’re eating something that’s SO GOOD that they’re afraid someone else is going to take it away from them.
And…*drumroll please* NO incidents of diarrhea during the night!
OMG!! That is sooooo wonderful! And the mom sounds!!!! Jackpot!!! I pray this continues to work for you and Niko!!!
NOM sounds…not mom sounds! LOL
..depends on the mom!
LOL, I figured it out! Also, I didn’t have to fish the other cats out of Niko’s food, because it’s not wet food. I’ve never seen anything like it, really. It’s moist little nuggets that look like they’ve been roasted or pan-browned. The only other one who tried to eat with him is Murphy, and I allowed it, because Murphy’s like Kelly’s Norman: he’s got skinny old man hips, and I’d really like to fatten him up a little.
I feel a little guilty that I didn’t discover this solution before, but we’re going to wait and see and make sure it works before I get TOO happy.
Hooray for no diarrhea! 🙂
ALWAYS a good thing!
Hurrah!!!
If anyone’s curious, this is what I bought:
http://freshpet.com/product/freshpetselectroastedmealscat/
Hooray for initial results. Long may they reign!!
I know exactly how you feel. I have been fostering for 6years thru our local Humane Society. Our kittens are only kept until they are over two lbs. or longer if they need socializing. They are then returned to the shelter for spay/neuter/chip and they stay there until adopted. I just brought back two yesterday, my heart was broken. I only had them 10days and they were sick and needed medical care, more than I could give. I was cleaning diarrhea full time for 10days (or it seemed), one started vomiting so back they went. I still fell in love with them in the short time. I will check on them to make sure they are okay. We have thru our shelter website a page for success stories, new owners submit pictures and stories of the kittens/dogs adopted. They are asked to use the name of the pet that the shelter had so the foster parents or shelter employees can identify them. I have yet to see any of mine, but I do know where two went and visit them once a year. It is nice to see them all grown up.
Hugs!!!!
Sweet little Noms…safe travels to your (hopefully soon) new homes! I’ve enjoyed following behind your development with my own kittens! I’m down to 3 now, Clara having been adopted by my vet in early May (and her second ELISA the other week was negative for FeLV again, woo hoo!!), and think I found a home for Tippy, pending the remaining three’s next, hopefully also negative, ELISA tests on the 25th. I love my babies but look forward to finding them forever homes, once the next round of tests come back negative again (knock wood!). It’s been stressful with the forced isolation, especially as they have gotten bigger and smarter (finding new ways to escape their room is their daily goal – darn the previous owner for cutting the doors short for stupid shag carpeting!!) But they are well-adjusted, friendly, fearless babes (like the Noms!) and I feel blessed to have helped bring them up and get them off to a good start, especially since they wouldn’t have even been born if their mom had ended up in a shelter!
Yay for negative test results! 🙂
I second that cheer for negative test results!
I have a high school friend who lives in a similar setting to Robyn’s: she is a stay-at-home-mom who lives on a farm with her husband, two daughters, and an assortment of animals. Her youngest cat got in the family way, and she’s just recently had to take all five kittens to their new homes, and was taking it kind of hard. I suggested the Love & Hisses blog to her, and also suggested that she consider contacting the local shelters and rescue organizations and volunteering as a foster kitten mom.
Yes! Shelters can always use more foster homes!!! 🙂
Argh, I wrote a great reply and the Internets ate it. I said something to the effect of how I think foster kitten moms do an awesome job. I know it must be hard, but you prepare them emotionally, physically, and socially for their forever homes. I think Kelly made a great comparison to teachers: you have the “kids” for a little while, love them fiercely, teach them what you can, and then let them go. Their humans will be grateful to you, even if they never meet you.
Well I will “WAAAHHH”, since I haven’t seen anyone else do it, over the going away of the Noms (especially Newberry). I only just discovered this blog shortly after they arrived so they have been special to me. However, my new love is Agata so I am pacified and still have someone to “look in on”. Please keep the cute coming Robyn!
I’ll do my best! 😉
That cute little orange stripey Cicero tail kills me!
I haz a question. Wouldn’t those Noms get adopted faster if they were younger? Do you stress out as they get older and look more like teenage kittens and worry that shallow people will choose littler kittens over them? Sincerely, Jane
Without a doubt, they’d get adopted faster if they were younger and smaller, but Challenger’s House (and most shelters around here, I think) won’t adopt out kittens until after they’ve been spayed and neutered, which happens at 2 months/ 2 lbs. The Noms could have gone to Petsmart earlier if I’d had them fixed at 2 months (and once they’d had all their shots), but I opted to wait ’til they could also get their rabies shots at the same time (3 months). They’re actually the only kittens at Petsmart right now – the rest of the cages have adults in them – so I’m hopeful that they go quickly.
Oh, and yes INDEED I stress out as they get older! Except for Newbery, though, they’re all pretty small (which, it’s hard to tell in the pictures), so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
I’ve never understood this (though I’ve seen it a million times, even by people in my own family)… I prefer adopting older animals because you really have the chance to see who they are when you adopt. My guys were 2 and 5 when I got them and well worth the wait (though I do wish their previous mommies and daddies had been a little nicer to them).
And I see it sort of the other way around. Since most shelters have a “no refunds if returned” policy, it makes more sense to me to get a kitten – one that has not yet developed any unpleasant or problematic habits or behaviors. Bonding also seems to happen more naturally with kittens (in both directions, human-to-cat and cat-to-human) than with older cats, who might have an undocumented (or undisclosed) history of abuse or maltreatment that might interfere with the bonding process.
What I would really love to see, if there’s a way to make it non- or minimally-traumatic for the cats, is a “trial period.” Say I think I want to adopt this five-year-old cat – I can pay the $150 (in my area) adoption fee and take him home with me, and give him a week or two to get settled in. If all goes well, great! I have a new cat and he has a new forever home. If it turns out that he simply can’t cope with my other cats, or the dog, or me – or if I can’t cope with the previously undisclosed fact that he sprays or tears out window screens – then I can return him to the shelter and instead of forfeiting the full $150, I get a refund of $100 and the shelter keeps the $50, PLUS now they have my “feedback” to add to their store of knowledge about the cat. That way, when someone else says, “I really like this cat,” they can say, “He doesn’t get along well with other male cats but he’s great with kids” or “He’ll need to have access to an enclosed outdoors area,” instead of just bouncing a cat with fully formed preferences and behaviors into a family that might not be able to accommodate.
I would be totally fine with having to forfeit a modest “deposit” in the event that an adoption didn’t work out, but for me $150 is a lot of money, and if it’s non-refundable then I want to maximize my options for getting a cat I can live with – which means a kitten or adolescent. And sure, sometimes they grow up to be different in personality than I might choose, but the bond is strong even so.
If I were a shelter manager I think that’s how I would try to manage things – for older cats, at least. There have been, in fact, three adult cats that I have wanted deeply to adopt, but decided not to because of this very issue – the reasons they were given up to the shelter were undisclosed or iffy to me (“may have some litterbox issues” doesn’t tell me what I need to know), and I can’t afford to take a $150 chance. I’ll happily take a $25-50 chance, but I can’t justify higher amounts in the event the adoption were not to “take.” And honestly, if an adoption doesn’t take and the adopter knows they’re not going to get any of the adoption fee refunded, and maybe they worry that the shelter place will try to shame or pressure them into keeping the animal, they’re likely to just turn the cat loose, or give it to someone else, regardless of what the adoption contract says. Having an option for getting some money refunded places an incentive to return the cat to a safe, caring location instead of getting dumped.
My parents are the same way – they both feel strongly about adopting older animals, and they do so with dogs (their last adoptee was 7 when they got him; my 14/15-year-old dog was 2 or 3 when we got her) – but dogs tend to be more trainable than cats. With cats, even though they (and I) feel they (we) SHOULD adopt the older cats, it’s just too much of a loss, financially, in the event the adoption doesn’t take, so they (we) stick with the kittens and juveniles. If there were an option for an affordable trial period, it’d be different.
The no-kill shelter I adopted my cat Percy from has a 30-day ‘foster to adopt’ period, where the adopter and the shelter can make sure that the cat is the right fit and that any problems can be dealt with. I wish more shelters would do it. 🙂
I know that Challenger’s House will take a cat back within 30 days, with full reimbursement. Most shelters should understand that not every adoption will work out – of course, just because they should doesn’t mean they do!
Alyslinn and Robyn, that’s awesome… none of the shelters here offer anything like that. The “mandatory donation” (talk about an oxymoron) is totally non-refundable, no matter what – even if, gods forbid, the vets missed something during the physical and the cat has a terminal illness or something.
I know they want to minimize the risk of people “test-driving” and the stress that puts on pets, but I think they’re being rather shortsighted about it… an adoption that doesn’t take, isn’t going to take, no matter what. The methods y’all’s shelters use are SO much more logical and – in my opinion – conducive to more adoptions of older cats.
Is there some sort of a national Shelter group that offers guidelines (like the AMA for doctors, say), who might be able to encourage that type of adoption, especially for older cats, to all shelters (even if it’s not, like, enforceable)?
Awwwh — safe journeys Noms – we hardly knew ye. May each and every one of you find your fur-ever home!
Can I just say, that Cicero’s little belly has me wishing I could give him zerberts every day!
Robyn, if I could, I would have already adopted Miss Logie and stolen Cicero (and, oh yeah, those guys named Jake and Joe Bob) from your house ;D Why oh why must money be a thing that is important….
That said, some day I envision a 5 acre Robyn Ranch that contains ALL THE KITTIES… someone just needs to win the lottery 😉
Hubby and I have an ongoing joke about what we’ll do when we win the lottery. The punchline is that we don’t play the lottery. He’s already been warned that if we ever DID win, I’d have to buy some property and start a fostering/sanctuary arrangement for los kittayes.
You’re taking the Noms to Petsmart? NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Say it ain’t so!
Hope they soon find their forever homes, preferably in duos. They are adorable.
You and Fred did a magnificent job with them and Mama Emmy.
I have to stop reading this blog and the other kitty blogs at work. My co-workers think I have a continual cold.
Oh, my heart is full of love!
My two wonderful cats came from a home where they were fostered until they were 10 weeks old. I’m very grateful to that unknown foster family for teaching them to be so snuggly and lovey and sweet! They are an awesome part of my life and it’s a good thing the lease says I can’t have any more, because if I could I’d be sorely tempted by Miss Logie.
Nooo! My first love-and-hisses litter is leaving! Nooo! I’d be there so fast for Logie your head would spin, if I hadn’t already had four cats and lived in Canada.
Even so, I’ve really enjoyed watching them grow and develop their personalities. I hope they all get the bestest homes!
I hope that the noms will soon be going to new wonderful forever homes. Robyn keep us informed on thir adoptions, and hints of what kind of homes they end up in. They are all so adorable, and have great personalities that I’m sure they won’t be at Petsmart long.
I am totally in love with Logie! If I lived closer, and if I weren’t fairly set on remaining a two-cat household, she would be all mine.
Also, how do you have time to take pictures of Cicero? I would think you would be too busy covering his itty bitty orange face with kisses, but perhaps I am projecting…
Thank you for that lovely last photo of Newbery. What a cool kitten! I have his photo on my laptop desktop.(again) I wish he could come to my forever home, but, my sadness shows how much pain you must be feeling as they all leave your home. Bless you and Fred for all the animals at Crooked Acres
Robyn, I hope all the Noms get adopted to people that love them as much as you and Fred. 🙂