A Purrfect Trio

Here are 3 of my current foster babies helping me cook dinner. The adult tuxedo boy is Freddie Patterson. I bailed him out of animal control twice after a man trapped him while trying to trap raccoons in an area where I had TNRed in the spring. Needless to say, I am so glad he is safe now. Freddie is THE most awesome cat. The big black kitten is Pepe (le Pew). We trapped him at a trailer park where we were TNRing in June. He was sick and tiny and needed some TLC. Pepe is a lovebug and weighs 8 lbs now...whopper kitten!! And the little black and white girl is Minnie Mouse. She was dumped with some other kittens at a Wendy's :(. These cuties are full of purrsonality and joy and ready for adoption!

Silver screen kittens....

I have been temporarily fostering 3 absolutely beautiful kittens. Their original foster mom rescued them out of her trailer park where they were in danger of being killed by neighborhood dogs. They came to me for temperament testing. I was supposed to test their feralness and give my assessment on their adoptability. She had them for a month and their brothers came around quickly, but the girls were more scared and shy. When they first arrived here, Ava Gardner and Jean Harlow, would not even stand up at first because they were so frightened. They had zero confidence and stayed curled up in tight balls. Grace Kelly, the boldest of the group, came around quickly. She was playing and purring and waving her tail around within minutes. And now, after 2 weeks, the other two have completely blossomed. Gracie went back to the original foster mom, and it really helped the other two feel more secure since she was pretty dominant. Last week, I noticed that little Ava appeared to have a limp and after a visit to the vet and an x-ray, I found out that she had broken her leg at some point weeks ago and it had healed so that the leg is slightly shorter than the other. Poor girl! No wonder she wasn't feeling comfortable in her original foster home with the other rowdy kittens jumping all over her. Ugh. Thank goodness she is ok now! Ava and Jean(ie) are going to yet another foster home today. They will be with an absolutely wonderful family who will work to them adopted at the Caring Hearts' Petsmart weekend adoptions. I am going to miss them terribly, but my job is done and the next step must be taken. Paws are crossed that they will be in a loving, forever home before long!!

Grace Kelly



Ava Gardner



Jean Harlow

Cat Trapping Success!!!

This past weekend was the monthly feral cat spay/neuter clinic. To make a long story short, Brian and I managed to trap 2 mama cats that we had been trying to get FOREVER!!! It was a GREAT night! I was jumping for joy and crying with relief all at the same time. One of the mamas lives outside at the blind man's house where we have been TNRing for year. I have 2 kittens from her most recent litter because they were sick and needed to be rescued, and we trapped the 3rd kitten, had him neutered and he went back to the man's house where he will stay inside and be very loved. I'll write about the other mama cat tomorrow...she is a heartbreaker and is staying in our upstairs foster cat bathroom for the time being.

Tired Mama Callie after her spay surgery...no more kittens for her to care for!!!



Little Julius...now neutered and living inside, safe and sound!



Pixie and Cheetoh napping the afternoon away....



Ooops, the camera woke them up! These two cuties will be going to Good Mews in Atlanta after they are snipped later this week.

Noodle and Meatball...a purrfect pair!

I am headed to Atlanta tomorrow to take 2 precious kittens to Good Mews. I can't believe I am going again...seems like I just went! But I had to help my friend, Jane, when she called me in tears. She had been feeding a lone kitten who was living at a Shell Station in Lexington. The workers there had also been kind enough to feed him and give him a little TLC now and then. Jane took the kitten to the monthly spay/neuter clinic to be snipped and vaccinated and when she went to return him, the manager flipped out and said that he HAD to be removed or ELSE! Well, Jane is at maximum cat capacity at her house and the adoption prospects are pretty slim around here right now, so I emailed my wonderful contact at Good Mews and THANK GOODNESS, they offered to take him!! So, this round little black kitten came to my house last Tuesday. He is adorable and amazingly tame to have been born outside. He does a lot of lounging around proudly showing his tummy. I chose the name Meatball...silly but it fits.

One of the vet techs at my vet's office always has lots of rescued kittens on her hands, so I asked her if she had one that she needed help with. She had a silvery striped tabby girl, so I picked up little Noodle from her last Friday. She is the opposite of Meatball...long, lean and svelte...a supermodel kitten! She is very chatty and purrs constantly and always wants to buzz around the room. Noodle was not excited about Meatball and is still getting used to her burly boyfriend. I think she is just playing hard to get.

I know Noodle and Meatball are the goofiest names, but Brian and I have been waiting to use those names because my nickname is the Noodle and he is the Meatball. Brian is built like a quarterback and I am scrawny and lanky. Too bad we aren't as cute as these two :)!

Kitty road trip and an STJ sneak peek.....

The Spookytime Jingles update is almost upon us again! I am offering up two Cheshire Cat inspired Halloween ornaments. They will be available tomorrow at midnight.

Meet Bat Cat....a sneaky boy who is up to no good at all!



...and Ghost Kitty...this grinning haunt is quite pleased with his costume. Does he really think his disguise is working???



The orange boys and I are hitting the road and heading to Good Mews in Atlanta tomorrow morning. It has been wonderful to have them in my life for a week of furry fun! Their future parents will be VERY lucky indeed! Archie, Barley and Chili (Willie) are purrfect little boys....loving, purring and playful and their faces melt my heart.

I helped a friend TNR (trap, neuter, return) 3 cats this week so I will report on that when I return from my quick trip.

Archie and Chili enjoying a catnap in my art studio....

Meet Archie, Barley and Chili!

These three fuzzy goons were abandoned at my vet's office last week! Can you imagine??! They are THE cutest, sweetest boys ever! I am fostering them this week and will be driving them to Good Mews in Atlanta on Friday. I am so thrilled that they have a place to go where I know they will find wonderful homes quickly. They have been snipped and vaccinated and are ready to roll!

When I opened the door to the foster bathroom this morning, they were all lying in a pile of toilet paper. It was EVERYWHERE! They had quite a wild time overnight! I could hear them romping around like a herd of buffalo at the crack of dawn. They all waddled over to me purring like crazy. Just scrumptious! I can hardly stand the cuteness!

Remember Suki and Oscar??

Suki, Oscar, Sammy and Skippy were 4 feral kittens that i rescued and tamed early in the fall. They were absolutely terrified...hissing, spitting and lunging. Some of you may remember them. They were the cutest babies ever and eventually came around after a great deal of tough love and TLC. Suki and Oscar were adopted by a sweet lady in a nearby town. I found her on facebook yesterday and she had a whole album of photos of those adorable kitties! I was beyond thrilled to see them lounging and happy and so well taken care of. It is the greatest gift anyone could give me. All I want is to see pets being treasured and protected like they should be.

This photo is my favorite and purrfectly illustrates how every kitty should spend its days....like royalty!

Princess Suki


I love this one too...so sweet!!!

Final TNR of the season for the SnipPet Girl!

This first day of winter marks my final feral cat trapping until spring! I spent most of Friday trapping in the cold rain, so I am very relieved to hang it up for awhile. It's just too icky out there for both people and animals! Despite the challenging weather, I was able to trap 5 kitties for the spay/neuter clinic on Saturday. All were kittens....4 were ferals from Don's garage (the kind blind man i have posted about before). I was hoping to get the trap savvy calico mama cat, but no luck :(. I tried ham, turkey, tuna, mackerel AND chicken mcnuggets as well as some other tricks, but she refused to give in. Disappointing...but I'll keep trying once the weather improves. Nevertheless, it was great to get her most recent litter of kittens all taken care of, especially since 3 of them are females!!! That was 3 more potential mama cats that won't be reproducing, thank goodness! I tried to take photos of this little crew, but they were blurry. I released them a little while ago and they were SO happy to be back in their straw filled garage with their mom.

The fifth kitten is one that was abandoned at the stockyards a few weeks ago. Poor little bug! She is totally tame and THE sweetest, most gentle girl. Literally, all she wants to do is sit in your lap or in her bed and make bisuits. She even makes biscuits while she is standing on the floor. It is the funniest thing! Non-stop kneading and padding. Consequently, i think her name should be Miss Biscuits. She is being adopted today by one of the guys who works at the stockyards.

These pictures don't do her justice at all! She is like a little black bear...fuzzy and round. Meowy Christmas from Miss Biscuits :)!

A few more photos before we head to Atlanta....

I have been spending lots of time with my three sweet pea bobtail girls over the past few days. Bonnie, Sylvie and Elsie are thoroughly enjoying my art studio/kitten room. Elsie likes to sleep on my shoulder while I work on the computer. OR she likes to sit on my lap and wave her arms around in my face (like she is going right now! tee hee!). They all like to lick my hands as I type and walk across the keyboard or fall on the mouse and delete whatever I am doing. I retyped one email 3 times!

They run around like a herd of buffalo chasing balls and mice...there must be 50 toys in here! By early afternoon, they are sacked out in my big chair sound asleep. I got a few great photos of them yesterday in full-on relaxation mode.

I will be packing these little ones up on Thursday morning, and we will be heading to Atlanta! A meowy girls' road trip for sure!

Bobtail kitten update and a little shout out to Lyndy!

My little orange bobtail kitten trio has improved immensely since the last time I posted about them! Elsie, Sylvie and Bonnie have more than doubled their weights and have become hearty, happy, bouncing girls! Elsie's bad eye is still a bit problematic, but 10 times better than it was. She and Bonnie are being spayed today and hopefully, the doctor will have some news about the prognosis of her eye.

I am in the process of looking for homes for our other 3 kittens. I HOPE that we get lucky soon!




I also wanted to thank the lovely Lyndy Ward for her Halloween giveaway! I was lucky enough to win a vintage 1967 Munsters postcard during her blog giveaway event!! What a super sweet and spooky treasure! Make sure to visit her enchanting blog, Today's Gold. THANKS, Lyndy!!

It may not be the Ritz, but.....

....it's a vast improvement! I am talking about the garage makeover I did yesterday. I have been helping a man TNR the cats that constantly show up in his yard for several months, and I decided that I HAD to redo his garage for many reasons. I have written about this situation before, but things have gotten a bit crazier lately. The dear man, Don, who feeds the cats is blind and his wife, Jean, is confined to a wheelchair. They can barely pay for their own food and personal needs and yet still worry about the neverending stream of kitties that end up at their house and do their best to feed and care for them. About 6 weeks ago, Don had to have gall bladder surgery and called on me to feed the cats while he recovered. During this time, I discovered that his neighbor was starting to trap the cats again to have them euthanized. This happened a few months ago and I desperately tried to change their minds to no avail. They hate the cats...period. And sadly, the cats love to hang out under their shed and in their backyard. So, this time, the best I could do was sneak into their driveway and release any cats that were in his trap. Trespassing is certainly not my normal behavior, but there was no way I could see that happening and not do something about it. Unfortunately, since I couldn't be there 24/7, he was able to get 2 young kitties. It still makes me so sad to know that they are gone. They weren't doing anything wrong and we had TNRed them. To make matters worse, the aggravating, irresponsible neighbor on the OTHER side will not let us get his female cat spayed for him, so he has kittens on his front porch that I KNOW will end up in Don's yard eventually. The whole situation is ridiculous, one neighbor producing homeless cats, one man trying to feed them and get them TNRed and one neighbor carting them away to be euthanized. It makes me want to pull my hair out to say the least. It is SO frustrating when you try to educate people on the humane course of action AND offer to do all the work and pay for it, and they STILL won't do the right thing. Sigh....

Well, my next thought was to TRY to entice the cats to stay in Don's garage instead of under the neighbor's shed. So, yesterday, I took the plunge and cleaned out all of the junk in there and filled it with straw. That garage was a smelly, dirty, moldy, nasty, spider filled MESS! It felt SO good to remove years of ICK out of there! I created a nice, clean feeding station and put mounds straw on tables and shelves and all over the ground....so many nice, warm places for the kitties to make nests and stay dry and cozy this winter. I hope, hope, hope they will set up camp there now! Keep your paws crossed that they do!

OH, and as I was cleaning, a calico cat (that won't get in out traps) sat in the back of the garage nursing her 4 precious kittens!!! I had a feeling that there were some in there, but hadn't seen them until yesterday. I wish I could rescue them, but Carrie's Catnap Inn is at full capacity, so they will have to stay there for now.

7 cats eating on the front porch...

Don's garage...


All the junk! The "before" photo...and this was after i had taken a lot of stuff out!

The new feeding station...

The "after" shots of the garage turned cat barn!



3 of the kittens exploring their new bedding...

Meow, Purr, Hiss...Cats and Kittens galore!

OH, where to begin...the past few weeks have been filled with cat adventures. I will just get to it and see if i can remember everything :)!

A few weeks ago, we successfully trapped 5 cats for the October TNR clinic. One of them was a torti mama cat at the stockyards who had eluded us for MONTHS!!! It was thrilling and a HUGE relief to get her taken care of. She had 2 remaining kittens from a litter of 5, so we brought them in as well. They were sick and needed some major TLC. I am happy to report that they are doing wonderfully now! We were also able to trap and spay another torti at the other end of the stockyards. We found out that she had been there for TEN YEARS having kittens over and over!!! Good grief, that almost made me have a heart attack. I cannot tell you how ecstatic I am that she can spend the rest of her life relaxing and that her kittens will no longer be subjected to the dangers there. In addition, we trapped a young orange bobtail boy in that area. Last but not least, we TNRed 2 male cats from other locations.

Excellent news!! Sammy and Skippy were adopted together 2 weeks ago. We ADORED those two buff boys and were incredibly happy that they went to an awesome home and got to stay together!

Here are the 2 rescued kittens, Basil and Elmo, who are fat, happy, wild and craaaaaazy! They keep me on my toes that is for sure. Elmo (gray bobtail) is extremely chatty and wants constant attention. Basil (black with white star on his chest) is a total love bug and full of fun. We also have Gilly (black and white) who i mentioned in a previous post. She has now recovered from coccidia and is having a BLAST with her kitten roommates. All 3 little goons will be spayed and neutered early next week and will then be ready for adoption!








There are 3 adult females that we still need to TNR at the stockyards, and we discovered during our last trapping session that one of them had a litter of kittens. Sadly, one had been stomped and killed by the cows...awful, i know. I can hardly think about it. The other 3 got very sick this week. So, my husband and I headed out there on Wednesday night to try to get them the heck outta there!! They were having an auction, so it was quite a wild goose chase! One kitten got in our trap right away, but the other two were so congested that they couldn't smell the tuna and didn't have an appetite. THEN, they had to let the cows run through the stalls, so we were dodging them, stepping in manure and trying to keep the kittens out of the way. Finally, we managed to get one more in a trap and I snuck up on the other and grabbed her. It was such a relief to get all 3...i wouldn't have been able to sleep if we had to leave any of them.

These poor sweet souls were absolutely covered in fleas, flea dirt and manure. It was ridiculous. I don't know how they were surviving at all...such strong yet fragile spirits. I bathed them gently and tucked them into a warm bed. They just passed out with exhaustion. I took them to the vet yesterday, so now they are on 2 eye meds and antibiotics. Their eyes look terrible and painful, but they should be ok. I was syringe feeding them at first, but they all ate on their own today. Yippee for any improvement!

Meet my precious orange bobtail girls...Sylvie, Bonnie and Elsie! I am showing you these "before" photos so that i will be able to show you some transformed "after" photos before long. These 3 are angels....such tiny troopers. Now, wish me luck in getting their mom trapped and spayed next week!!!