It happened so quickly. One minute I'm home doing my usual busy stuff and then it happened. The phone rang.
It was the animal non profit organization calling. You see, Jay's photo had been in the paper on Saturday and a couple of ladies wanted to adopt him.
Gulp! The baby.
They were also very interested in adopting Jay's bestest friend in the world and that was Whiz. This was fantastic news. Poor Whiz had lost all his best friends to adoption, including his sister, so it was time that he got to keep one.
I called the ladies and we set a time for them to come the next day. Usually when someone comes to view of the foster cats I put all the cats in the basement. That way I can contain everybody in the room and if gives each cat an opportunity to see and know that one of the cats is being put in the cat carrier and being taken away. It makes a huge difference to the cats for them to know the cat has been taken away and hasn't just disappeared.
Once one of the kittens was adopted late at night and none of the other cats saw the person come to take him. The next day his play mate went around crying trying to find him. So after that mistake I always make sure everyone knows that the kitty has gone to their adoptive home and ever since then, no more crying after a cat is adopted.
The ladies arrived and we went downstairs. I knew Whiz would be a bit panicked. He's a little shy at first and I knew he might hide but I had them all locked in the room so it was okay. But I underestimated Whiz. He went up the stairs and pressed on the door and somehow he got it to pop open.
That meant the scaredy cat was now loose upstairs where he promptly hid.
While the ladies waited downstairs I turned the upstairs upside down. I could not find him. I kept looking and it took me 20 minutes to find him. He was in the last place on earth I'd think to look, behind the curio cabinet and jammed into a 4" space at the end of a bookshelf.
I brought him downstairs where the ladies fell in love with his great looks. You see, they knew that Whiz wouldn't always be a scaredy cat. He was just nervous around strangers and once he got to know them he'd settle right in.
My frustration at not finding Whiz was quickly put in place when I realized that a power bigger than myself had better plans than I could think of. That 20 minutes with the ladies in the basement was necessary. It was just the right length of time for the ladies to meet and also fall in love with Beauty, Jay's mother. By the time I brought Whiz downstairs the ladies had decided that 3 cats would suit them just fine.
But boy was the house ever quiet. Everyone felt weird with the quiet. Gracie was bored and started supervising me and the other cats started sleeping a lot more. The young ones were gone.
But a week later, there was the doorbell and another cat carrier. But this time it was coming in and bringing kittens. Little kittens 4 weeks old. They had no mother and they needed someone to raise them.
Oh we've got noise now. Trust me they've got BIG voices :)
3 comments:
Your post made me so happy...you are incredible. I can't remember where you live, but if you were close, I'd help you with the young kittens. This is the first summer I haven't had one or two litters that were only hours old.
I'm going to forward your blog to another family friend of mine who rescues cats...I know she'd like to hear about your work.
Also, I loved the sentences from your book that you left on Ignite to Write. Have you looked for a publisher yet? I can't wait to read your finsihed copy!
Thanks for your comments Jan. I'm in Southern Ontario so probably a bit far away. I just spent an hour playing "kitty Mommy". They're so sweet, the way they sleep in my arms :)
As for the book, I was querying editors but realize I really need an agent. But before querying agents I've decided to do more work on the book to polish it more. The more I read about authors hoping to get published... it's a competitive world. Congrats on your books and your web site is very helpful for aspiring writers too!!!
Good for, well, everybody! :-D
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