Just a quick one today!
So, to recap from last week, last Tuesday Cilantro:
was adopted! That left Clove, Coriander, and Ciara waiting for their forever homes.
And THEN, on Friday I got the word that Clove:
was adopted! She went to a home with a very active older cat and a 10 year-old boy who was very very excited to be bringing her home.
Saturday afternoon, my cell phone rang. It was the shelter manager. “Hey,” she said. “Want 7 more kittens?”
There was dead silence on my end as I (1) tried to figure out where we’d put another 7 kittens, and (2) tried to figure out a nice way to say “Um, NO!”
But before I could respond, she laughed. “I’m just kidding! Ciara and Coriander were just adopted. TOGETHER!”
TOGETHER!!!! Princess Poutyface not only has a forever home, she also has a forever sister!
Ciara and Cori are going to a family with a teenage girl, and Ciara apparently sealed the deal by climbing into the dad’s lap and making herself at home. She’s no dummy!
This has been a great week for my girls. I was starting to get worried that they’d never be adopted and then – boom! – all four in less than a week!
This doesn’t mean that the Peppers Gang will be going soon, though. There are other kittens on the list ahead of them, so they’ve got a little while yet. Unless, of course, adoptions keep up at this rate, in which case they could be going any day now. We’ll just have to see!
Last week, I got an email from the shelter manager. Someone who had adopted a male kitten – now an adult – from Challenger’s House last year was returning him. She was pregnant, and her doctor had told her that she shouldn’t be breathing in the ammonia fumes from the litter box.
(I have no comment on this ridiculous excuse except to say that ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!)
You know, we rarely ever have adult fosters here, we tend to get the little ones because, well, I do love a baby kitten and that’s just the way it tends to work out. So I called Fred and told him about the return and suggested that since Charlie and Patty were in a cage, we could move them to the bathroom and put the adult in the guest bedroom for a while and give him lots of attention. Fred was amenable to the suggestion, so I told Susan we’d take the returned cat.
Thursday, I went up and had breakfast with the usual Thursday crew, and then I went and picked up the returned cat from the vet’s office. If a cat is returned to Challenger’s House, they get a quick exam and a re-test to be sure they are still FeLV and FIV negative, and their shots are updated if need be. He tested negative, as expected, and I headed home with him. He complained the whole way home in a sad little voice that got louder the closer we got to home. At home, when I walked into the house, he sat in his carrier and growled and hissed at the other cats he saw, all the way to the guest bedroom. I let him out of the carrier, and he walked around the guest bedroom, sniffing all the smells of the other cats who’d been in and out of the room, and he hissed and growled and complained like a little drama queen the entire time. I finally left him alone so he could sniff to his heart’s content and maybe settle down a little.
All through Thursday he was very hissy and growly. Fred let Jake in to visit with him for a brief period of time, and he and Jake sniffed each other and then butted heads. Jake rubbed up against him (honestly, Jake is just the best cat on earth) and then after a few minutes Jake was overwhelmed and asked to go out of the room.
Friday the new guy was a lot calmer, so we let him out into the house to sniff around. There was no reaction at all from our other cats, but eventually the new guy got overwhelmed and started hissing and smacking at the other cats, so we put him back in the guest bedroom for the night.
Fred got up Saturday morning and let the new guy out of the guest bedroom to let him explore a little. He followed Fred to the laundry room, saw the cat door to the back yard, and was out into the back yard in about two seconds. Fred put a collar on him, and he spent all of Saturday either in the back yard hanging out, or in the kitchen on top of the cabinets. If he wasn’t in either of those two places, he was twining around my legs trying to convince me that he was fading away to nothing and needed a bite to eat. (He is not at all a small cat, so I wasn’t convinced.)
Since Saturday morning, he’s been out of the guest bedroom. He’s getting along fine with the other cats (though he and Alice are rather hissy and growly toward each other), and he is one happy boy.
It took very little discussion for Fred and I to make the decision to keep him. He’s so at home here with us, and though adult cats are adopted from Challenger’s House all the time, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to put him through sitting in a cage at Petsmart while all the kittens in the cages around him were adopted and he waited and waited. (Not that that’s necessarily how it would work – Maggie, after all, was adopted in less than two weeks. It’s possible he’d be adopted immediately, he is one gorgeous boy, but we couldn’t stand the thought of it.)
So it’s not official yet – I haven’t filled out the paperwork – but we have a #13 again. We’re not going to keep his “official” name, though, it really doesn’t suit him. We have a much better name in mind for him. We’re going to call him….
BUSTER!!!!
(Yes, it’s really the real Buster aka Bolitar the Bookworm, who went to what we thought was his forever home last December. As you see, that didn’t work out, and he’s back here with us, for good. More details (and pics) tomorrow! Also, no – I did NOT know when I posted the pictures comparing Charlie Peppers to a young Buster that Buster would be coming back here!)
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: My monkeys are going to the pet store today! ::sob::
2007: Fred spends so much time talking about how gorgeous Stinkerbelle is, that I feel like he’s having a midlife crisis, only instead of dumping me for a younger, prettier model, he brought The Other Woman to live in my house.
2006: No entry.
2005: “Is someone in the kitchen? OH MY GOD! SOMEONE’S IN THE KITCHEN!”
You really know how to ratchet up the drama, Robyn! My sighs of frustration have turned into tears of happiness for Buster! (But I reserve the right to be angry with that woman…) Isn’t he one great big handsome mancat?! — more photos please! Any signs of recognition from Il Corbino? Many congrats on an action-packed adoption weekend!
I’m so glad that of all the places he could have bounced to, Buster is back home!
Awww, Buster baby, welcome back! (Also: yay adopted pouty princess and spices!)
First YAYAYAYAYYAAYYAYAYAYAYAYY for the Spice Girls and Ciara!! happy dance, happy dance!! BRILLIANT NEWS!!!!!!
Oh Second. BUSTER is BAAAAAAAAAACK!! OH wowow! Look at him!! He’s beautiful!!! Awwww wonder if Corbie will remember him? I hope so! Yay for Buster!!! Yayayyayayayayayyay!
Third. Please people. Please don’t treat your pets like they are furniture to be discarded at whim. Many many many many families have babies with pets around. MANY. Please do your research first and take sensible precautions before believing the docs and chucking out the cats/dogs/pets just like that. End of.
Ahem. Sorry!
WELCOME home Buster!!!!
Take care
x
Welcome back home Buster! We all missed you!
xxxx
Welcome home, Buster! You are obviously much loved and back where you belong. I was pregnant three times and never once considered giving up my cats. Not only did none of my doctors suggest it but they never worried for a moment about it… just a mention that I should be careful about handling the box and make sure I washed my hands afterward.
Robyn, our family just adopted a 5 year old chocolate lab from a rescue (who grabbed him on his last day at animal control). We would love to share his story, but the link isn’t working. I’ll keep trying, though.
Ha! Way to build the drama! 😀 I did think it was surprising that you’d move a cat into gen pop so quickly. All was explained soon enough.
I NEED pictures of those reunited brudders together STAT!
I just about got tears in my eyes! I am so glad you have him and his “temporary parents” are just idiots and certainly don’t deserve him. I feel sorry for her child. Will she get rid of that one when she has a second baby?
Oh yay for adoptions! Wow…I can’t believe the last of the McMao kittens is in her forever home. Seems just like yesterday, *sigh*.
Hello Buster! Aren’t you just a handsome lad. Maybe that’s why Alice is all hissy and offended by your presence, heh.
Buster is lucky number 13! Wow – such great news and he is so handsome.
Buster looks amazing! I don’t know about USA but over here in UK pregnant women are told not to change cat litter boxes at all,they can catch a minor infection that won’t harm them but can kill a newborn baby, both my daughters-in-law had to hand that duty over to my sons.
Awwww.what a story! Welcome home Buster, you have found your family now!
Just a little information:
Pregnant woman need to take PRECAUTIONS around the cat litter box, NOT get rid of the cat! The risk is from Toxoplasmosis from cat feces and this only if a cat is infected with it. It usually comes from raw or undercooked meat, so I hope the lady doesn’t eat rare or medium rare steak either bacause she is also at risk there!
The safest thing to do is have someone else clean out the litter box. If you must do it yourself, wear gloves and wash your hands thoroughly afterward. If the cat or other cats use the garden or soil outside do not handle any soil where there could be cat feces.
Millions of women all over the world are pregnant and living with their cats as family members.
He is so beautiful! I hope Buster and Corbie remember each other and are soon snuggling brothers again!
Most indoor cats do not have toxoplasmosis.
He is so gorgeous! Look at that face.
I am SO happy for Ciara and Cori being adopted together, and Clove. That is the best news ever! What wonderful people to adopt 2 at once.
Awww, I WAS moved to tears to see Buster back, and yes, the drama was built beautifully! All around wonderful news with the beautiful girls getting adopted, and 2 of them together!!(except for the wildfire left-behinds, haunting there).
I have had 4 pregnancies and cats through each one…used gloves and washed hands and all’s well. My SIL took care of their cat pan through each of our daughter’s pregnancies… I don’t think we’ve seen a positive toxo test come back from the lab where I work, either…not all that common, and shame on the doctor for feeding that myth, altho it resulted in having Buster back, so I guess that’s good. Just hope he’s not causing too many owners to hand back their cats.
Thanks for another heartwarming post! Best Monday reading in a long time.
Awww yay for ciara and the spices!
Look at that chunk-a-munka (Buster) — how handsome is he! They don’t know what they will be missing!
It’s funny (not in a haha way) because my one cat (Jaxun) was a litter of 3 — i took Jaxun and a friend of mine took the other 2. now 5 years later, due to some really (in my opinion and pardon the french) shitty circumstances she gave them up and by random chance i found out about it, so of course i took these two brothers back — hoping Jaxun would be all “OMG MY LOST BROTHERS! I MISSED YOU!” — so not the case, they hated each other. But now I’ve moved and those 2 stayed at my parents house and all is right with the world according to Jaxun lol
What a wonderful way to start the week! I have tears of happiness in my eyes for all the loved ones.
I’m not familiar with the story of Buster (I’ve only been here since the McMao’s arrived), but I will go back through the blog and catch up. He is a truly handsome boy, and must feel relieved and blessed to be back home.
OMG…he’s all grown up!!! Welcome home Buster…I can’t wait to see him : )
Yeah spice girls…and way to go, Ciara…not just a pretty face, but a savvy girl on top of it all!!
OMG, OMG, OMG!!! Sometimes the Powers That Be really make things right again. Though I’m new to the blog, I’ve read all of the old posts (“What I Did on my Summer Vacation” by Amy) so my jaw literally dropped when I saw it was Buster! I’m so happy for y’all! And that’s just plain spooky that you did a comparison between Charlie and Buster just the other day.
I’m sorry but I can’t understand people who abandon their pets when they have children…to me that doesn’t bode well for their parenting skills… I had a neighbor comment the other day that he just doesn’t “give a damn” about their cats anymore since their son was born. As we were in a restaurant with a group and I was already in a bad mood, it took all the social skills I had not to rip him a new one right then and there. I’m just relieved that the cats are really his wife’s!
Oh my goodness! He looks so amazing! Just gorgeous! He just needed a bit of time to remember your place was where he began his life!
you could have told the manager that you’re now a duck person (so you can’t take the 7 kitties) heehee
anyway Buster’s gorgeous. too bad the woman don’t know how to share her love and that tupid doctor.
BUSTER! What a great reveal! I was so sad when he left, and now I’m moved to tears at this happy ending! It was always meant to be! And isn’t he just so handsome and full of ‘tude! I just tried explaining to my husband why I was gasping and ‘awwing’ at the computer, but he doesn’t get it. xxxooo to Buster. Oh, and I am also curious how he and Corbie interact now? Do they remember each other?
Shouldn’t smell the ammonia? I suspect she wasn’t intelligent enough to repeat the doc’s speech about toxoplasmosis or the doc thinks all women are idiots. Regardless, we are thrilled the Buster is back! He is one gorgeous cat.
OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! MY EVIL PLAN WORKED!!!!!! Oh what a handsome boy he is!!! Did Corbie say “Who on earth are you?”
Will you LOOK at that gorgeous kitty?! He’s going to give pretty boy brudder Corbie a run for his money (do I hear a Corbie/Buster Friday picture duo maybe? Mmm?) I am so happy to hear you snatched him back up. Also angered to hear that people can just ‘give up’ their animals as soon as a baby comes along. Sigh…
That doctor should be hit over the head with a 2-by-4. Just sayin’ …
AWW. Buster’s back where he belongs! So happy he’s with you (since I can’t have him…)!
Woo hoo! Doing my happy dance that Buster is finally at his very own forever and won’t be bounced around anymore! Ugh, people who return pets, especially for such ridiculous reasons, just baffle me!
Well, hello lucky #13! “Buster Brown” does indeed get around, and I’m so happy to know he’s come back HOME where he can be loved and adored and maybe possibly showered with kisses and hugs.
People are idiots… Return a cat because you’re pregnant… what kind of idiot.. oh wait, I just said people are idiots, so I guess that kind. Anyway, instead of using it as an excuse to make her husband clean the pan, which is not such a bad deal, she just give him up? Gives him up??!!! Idiot.. Honestly!
My great gramma wound up with a cat, a calico/torbie (colors mixed together) because her people remodeled their house and everything was now black and white and the cat no longer matched. Idiots…
I think this pregnant woman just wanted any excuse to get rid of poor Buster and latched on to that ridiculous one. Well, fine, she misses out. And Buster is better off without them.
Don’t mind me, this kind of crap makes me mad!
But yay! Buster is back! What a handsome big boy he turned out to be!
And yay for all the adoptions!
And yay for you being amazing wonderful people!
Are you sure the woman and/or doctor said ammonia and not toxoplasmosis? At any rate, I’m sure glad Buster is back home. It’s funny because I was reading the story and scrolled down to the photo and thought, “That looks just like a grown up Buster!”
Do he and Corbie-the-gorgeous-one recognize each other?
Thanks for another entertaining post and I hope everything works out well for Ciara, the Spice Girl, The Peppers and Charlie & Patty and your THIRTEEN(!!) adult cats!! Whew! You sure do help a lot of lives, Robyn!
it’s actually better to have pets when you have kids because they’re less likely to grow up with pet allergies. i can’t believe they would dump their cat because of such of that. when i *finally* have babies my cats are going to be there because they’re part of the family. people that get pets and then just dump them are disappointing 🙁
What kind of noodlehead doctor does this woman have?! UGH! Well, I’m glad Mr. Buster Brown is back where he belongs. He’s such a handsome young man 🙂
Welcome Home Buster!! Things have a way of working out for the best and you’re back where you were meant to be. Trying to clean-up my language lately, so no comment on Buster’s previous parent.
You and Fred are AWSOME!
btw; congrats on all the adoptions & hope they all have a wonderful life.
Wow, welcome home, Buster! Lucky cat, lucky you guys.
Wow! The prodigal son returns! And so stately looking. And big! Is he a lot bigger than his brother? Seeing them side by side would be funny. So glad he is back where he really belongs!
okay, that’s just freakin’ cool that bolitar is back. the woman who gave him up, well, that’s her loss. it’s too bad that she didn’t think to get a mask or something.. he has become (oh goodness, i don’t mean this to be trash talk at all…)…. *whispering* as beautiful as corbie *end whispering*..
oh, and bilal told me to pass a message on. he’s like corbie, a lover.. and really would prefer NOT to compete about who is more beautiful. he’d rather just roll over on his back and be all goofy and sweet. in fact, he so wanted me to let you know i was out of place in making that challenge, that he wanted me to give you photo proof.. you can see it here: http://www.llam.rivervision.com/wp/?p=34. 🙂
SO happy darling Buster is back with his real fam!
But I was just reading his adoption story, and saw that he was adopted by a woman who’d already adopted Inigo, the black and white kitten from Maxi’s litter. Do you know if Inigo has gone to another home, Robyn?
Catherine, I don’t know whether he went to another home, or what. The shelter manager asked her, and she said that Buster was their only cat.
[Raised eyebrows]
Buster has finally grown into his beautiful ears.
Buster is gorgeous, but I’m going to rant for a minute (my apologies): I have to add to the chorus of voices saying WTF? Really? Ammonia? Stupid excuse. We have here either an ignorant doctor or an ignorant or dishonest woman. If you don’t want the cat anymore, nut up and admit it.
My husband and I are thinking of starting a family and have two cats, one of whom we — get THIS stroke of genius!!! — had TESTED for toxoplasmosis! (We plan on testing the other when she goes to the vet in October.) No, it’s not cheap, but neither is having a kid, so we thought we might as well forego a dinner or two out and end any worrying.
End of rant.
Those Spice Girls are freaking adorable and I hope their new homes are as loving as yours. So glad gorgeous Corbie has a gorgeous brother back at home with him!
I was wondering why you would try introducing a cat into gen-pop so quickly… But then it all made sense. YAY for Buster being back! It’s great to see him all grown up. Is it just me or does he look a little **ahem** floofy in that picture? Maybe it just how he’s sitting… Hopefully he and Corbie remember each other.
Also quadruple YAYA for all the Spice Girls and McMaos finding homes.
Like Kristen just before me, I also wondered about the quick intro to the other cats — but I didn’t guess that it was a previous resident! Yay for Buster coming home (but boo for the lady that gave him up – I have trouble believing her doctor told her to get rid of him. I hope she doesn’t get tired of having the baby around!)
Well, I gasped at the reveal! I’m so so glad you got Buster back (even if I’m mad at that woman). I know he was one of your favorites! (they all were, but I remember how much you loved him!)
I also remember that Buster was adopted by someone who had previously adopted a cat as well. I hope that cat, and any other cats this crappy woman has is okay. =\
YAY BUSTER! He was always my favourite Bookworm, although your weekly reminders of how pretty Corby is did start to sway me.
So now do we get weekly reminders how pretty Buster is too?
I rarely comment, much less comment twice on the same post, but I just had to come back because I am so, so happy Buster’s back. He’s got to have one of the most recognisable cat noses ever, and every time I see it, I just go all melty inside. Robyn, this is probably my favourite post of yours ever.
This post made my whole day,and probably the rest of my week too!I can’t believe all the kittens got adopted,and you’ve got Buster back.I know you’ve always had a soft spot for him,and when something like this happens (where he just “happens” to be returned) it makes me wonder if there really is such a thing as fate.You two were obviously meant for each other!
Do you think Corbie recognizes him at all?
no effing way!!!!!!! i wondered at the beginning of your tale if it would be a previous foster. WELCOME HOME BOLITAR/BUSTER!