A Happy Ending/Beginning....

Brian and I delivered our precious foster kitty, Marmalade, to Good Mews in Atlanta last Friday. We left Lexington at 4:30 am and hit the road with a very scared little boy, but he calmed down quickly and was an absolutely excellent traveler!!! He sat quietly the whole trip and enjoyed chin scratches every few minutes :).

We checked him into Good Mews later that morning and sadly said our goodbyes. It is always awfully hard to let go of a foster especially one as adorably handsome and sweet as Marm! BUT we knew that he would have MANY kind volunteers showering him with love and that he would find a forever home very soon. How soon???! Well, I got notification last Saturday that he was going to be adopted by a very nice man. Amazing! He is supposed to go home with him tomorrow so I am anxious to hear how it goes. I hope Marm's new dad will contact me.

Nothing better than a happy beginning for a frightened stray kitty who will no longer suffer on the streets.....

Calling all animal lovers!!!

Make sure you head over to Spookytime Jingles on the 13th!!! It is the STJ one year anniversary, AND we are raising money for the ASPCA and local animal groups!!! SO exciting! Many of the STJ artists are giving a percentage of the sales of their Halloween and Christmas creations to cats and dogs in need! 100% of the sales of two of my Halloween munchkins will go toward the animals and 15% of all of my other pieces will be donated. I can't wait to see everyone else's wonderful work! For more details, you can visit the STJ blog. Scroll down to read several informative posts.

Hope all of you have a super duper weekend!!!! I am OUT.....

Friday WIPs and Ozzie Update~~

Here is what i have been working on this week....temples, towers and topiaries in progress! I am anxious to get these painted, but I need to sculpt some little birds and details first. It seems like i have been sooooooo slow this week...like molasses...maybe it's because of a certain furry critter that has me distracted???!



Uh, yes...little Ozzie bean is definitely a distraction! A good one :)! He has made big strides since Sunday night. He is now using his litter box AND I pretty much have him weaned. I started with feeding him formula and canned food from a syringe and then moved to putting it on a plate. I still have to sit with him while he eats and push him back toward the plate when he wanders off. He is starting to play with his toys, stalk imaginary friends, and attempt to scare me with the ever entertaining sideways shuffle crab walk. Veeeeeery scaaaary! Tee hee. Every night i bring him downstairs to watch a TV show with me. He quietly entertains himself by wobbling up and down the sofa and chewing on my blanket.

I checked in with Smokey's (Ozzie's mom) feral cat caretaker and she seems to be doing just fine...she is probably relieved to be free of her motherly duties. We will be heading out next Friday night to try to trap her along with a constantly injured tomcat and 2 other cats in need of spaying/neutering and medical care. Oh, i hope we can get them all taken care of! In the past 9 months of living here, we have fixed and/or rescued over 30 cats and kittens, but there are so many more left to do in this area. It seems to never end.

Here is a photo of little Oz! He squirms a lot so my photos are all a bit blurry. I'll get some good ones eventually. Look at that spotted tummy...can you stand it??! Have a purrfectly lovely weekend, everyone!

My heart just keeps breaking....

Oh me, what a week. Where do i begin? Last Sunday night, Brian and I headed over to help TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) many cats at an elderly couple's house about a mile away from us. The man, Don, is completely blind and the woman, Jean, is confined to a wheelchair. They live on a very small fixed income and can barely feed themselves much less the cats that have multiplied in their yard. Someone abandoned 2 unneutered/unspayed cats in their yard a year ago and now there are AT LEAST a dozen. They are such kind hearted people and have wanted to do the right thing unlike the irresponsible folks who got them into this mess in the first place. All they want is to have them all spayed/neutered and vaccinated. A friend of mine took care of half of them and called on me to take care of the rest. Of course, in the meantime, other kittens are being born so it's like we are chasing our tails with this (no pun intended :)). Brian and I managed to trap 5 of them. The bad news is that they all have herpes (which they can live with and be ok for years) BUT one poor little guy was in such rough shape that he had to be euthanized. That breaks my heart, but i would hate for him to suffer a miserable existence. I went by Don and Jean's again yesterday to check on everyone and deliver some cat food and noticed that the neighbor had a trap set in his driveway. My heart dropped because i knew what this meant...he was tired of the cats and wanted them eradicated. I went over to calmly confront him to no avail. He and his wife had made up their minds. They were tired of the mess and the cats wandering into their yard. He was going to trap them one by one and take them to animal control to be euthanized. I tried to empathize with them but killing them??? How can you do that? I left in a pile of tears feeling so awful and frustrated and angry....why couldn't i change their minds? I felt like i had let down Don and Jean and those innocent kitties. I have never been confronted with this situation personally before, and it was more than i could bear. We are ALL trying to do the right thing. I pulled myself together because i had to head to an apartment complex and try to trap 5 homeless cats there. I have been helping their caretaker in various locations for the past 9 months. After a few hours, we trapped a calico female (probably pregnant) and a fuzzy little black and white one. As late night fell, the only creatures getting in the other traps were possums. I was disappointed not to get all of them, but relieved to have gotten the others. I delivered them to the spay/neuter clinic this morning. But sadly, I just received a call letting me know that the calico had died. After they sedated her, her heart stopped. This sometimes happens if they have undetected cardiomyopathy. They did everything they could to revive her. So again, here I am in a pile of tears. And i dread telling the caretaker the news. I honestly don't know how full time rescue group volunteers or shelter workers do it. They deal with a constant barrage of tragedy and sad incidents. I know there are many happy endings, but it seems like it is always an uphill battle....dealing with irresponsible pet owners and hateful people, trying to spay/neuter so this pet overpopulation crisis will end, illness and disease, etc. etc. I admire people who dedicate their lives to this cause more than i can express. I just don't have the emotional fortitude for it. I love animals too much. It's amazing how something that supplies your greatest joy can also cause your deepest pain. I am sorry to write such a downright depressing post, but i had to express my true feelings. I have always been an eternal optimist and try to focus on the good in every situation....but today, my heart is simply broken into little pieces.

In honor of our furry friends who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge~~

Spring cleaning, Gus and more WIPs on the way....

I took a weekend break from my artwork....needed to rest my brain and catch up around the house. I cleaned and put out some Easter decorations and organized our closets for spring. It was 40 degrees yesterday, but i am just SO tired of looking at sweaters and dark colors! We went out to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant on Saturday night with some friends....such a yummy outing! Here is a photo taken in my springy kitchen... this is a massive clock that i made last year. I can't take credit for the idea. I saw it as a decor idea in Country Living and had to create one. My super handy brother-in-law made the round wood backing for me, and i got to do the fun part!



So, it's back to work today! I have so much to do. I should have some WIPs ready to show you in the next day or two. In the meantime, here's a little story about our dear boy, Gus.



We adopted Gus from a fantastic no-kill cat shelter called Good Mews in Atlanta in 2001. He was about 8 weeks old and had been attacked by another animal which had permanently damaged his back legs and digestive system. He was the only kitten in his litter that survived. Let me tell you, we had NO idea what we were getting into when we adopted him but we committed to love and care for him as long as needed. He is the true definition of "special needs". He has megacolon, bladder issues, neurological problems, skin allergies and has had hematomas in both ears. I can't even begin to express what we have been through with him over the past 8 years...medications, tests, near death scares, etc. But now, we have things down to a science. I express Gus' bladder twice a day, and my saint of a husband stimulates his bowels every morning. This cat has taught us more patience and perseverance than we ever thought possible. Gus has THE most amazing spirit. Even during his low points, he remains full of life. He purrs incessantly, runs around like a lunatic the best he can (he used to drag his legs but can now use them quite well in his own special way), and can hoist himself up into our bed or onto the sofa. He has made us laugh and cry harder than any other cat we've known. Our relationship with him runs deep and will never be repeated. To know him is to love him, and we'll do whatever it takes to keep him trucking for as long as we can. I always say that as long as he is still purring, everything is going to be ok.

Rosie Buddha Kitty

This is my sweet Rosie and the painting that she inspired. Rosie was living in one of our feral colonies in Atlanta. We always suspected that she was tame, and we finally got around to trapping her one hot August day. Well, she meowed and meowed (most ferals are totally silent in their traps) and we knew that she needed to come off the street. I felt so awful because she had been out there for many months and always sat alone up on an air conditioning unit. I immediately felt a strong bond to her, so we decided that rather than find a home for her like the rest of our rescues that she needed to stay with us forever :). I cannot express how much i love this crazy girl!! She is the funniest, quirkiest kitty...this buddha baby has absolutely stolen my heart. All i can say is, what idiot decided to abandon such a special cat???!! Well, i feel that way about abandoning ANY cat....
Rosie often sits in this "Buddha" position, so i decided that i had to illustrate it in a painting. Hope you like it!

Does it get any cuter?

We have been snowed/iced in for days, so i have been very productive on my artwork...BUT i can't get ouside to take any photos of my new circus animals yet. So, I figured that I would just post a photo of one of my past kitten artist assistants. This is Miss Tiggy Winkle. How precious is she? She was one of our Atlanta rescues...she was in an animal control slated for you know what when i pulled her out along with 3 other random kittens.

Hope everyone is safe and warm right now!

SnipPet Girl T-shirt gets the paw of approval!

I am so excited! I just received a t-shirt that i ordered from www.customizedgirl.com ! I have been wanting to accumulate a wardrobe of items that promote spaying and neutering with my Sunny SnipPet Cat mascot, so that i can wear them when i am out TNRing...or want to approach other feral cat colony caretakers...or just feel like spreading the word when I am out and about. I think that it gives me some credibility and approachability and because Sunny SnipPet is so cute and cuddly, it gives a very serious topic more levity and fun.
My kitty, Rosie, gave it her paw of approval! And at this moment, my little Heidi is sitting on it. Well, it will definitely be blessed with a nice coating of cat hair :).

Transporting Violet to Good Mews in Atlanta

The fantastic and amazing no kill, cage free shelter, Good Mews (www.goodmews.org) was willing to take my kitty rescue, Violet. I drove her there from Kentucky on Monday. It was SO great to visit Good Mews and see my kitty and people buddies there. I love spending time at GM...it is such a wonderful place. In the photos above you will see the beautiful kittens in their kitten room. Next is Hondo a HUGE and handsome boy who lost his home due recently. Then, there is Bruiser!! Bruiser is a kitty that i rescued in Atlanta many months ago. We had to have his tail amputated but he is going great and enjoys being at Good Mews. He is such a super boy! The last photo shows my best buddy's foster kitty, Tumbleweed. He came from Texas and only has 3 legs. He is too cute for words and full on energy.

Huey, Louie, Dewey and Daisy....Adoption Success!

This little orange tabby crew came to me in early September, and now they have all found their forever homes! Shoowee....it was quite an adventure with them. From that first night in the stalls of the stockyards...crawling around in the manure with the raccoons staring me down and a very angry mama cat protecting her brood...to battling a terrible case of the coccidia parasite....and wondering if everyone would ever be healthy...to a happy ending for all! These precious kittens were so sweet and loving. Their new owners are so lucky to have them. AND they were all spayed and neutered...that's a lot of lives saved...AND we were able to trap and spay their feral mother, Mama Snuggs, shortly after we rescued them. We have also "snipped" 3 of her teenage kittens.
There are many more to be spayed and neutered....one by one...little by little. I won't quit until i am 90 and can't move!
Stay tuned.