Stick Figure Cat!

I had a great cat date

Hanna from Washington Humane Society's adoption department is starting a new enrichment program to help shelter cats feel a little more at home during their stay. Part of this involves daily "cat dates", during which cats get 15 minutes of undivided one-on-one attention from volunteers.

I went to the orientation on Sunday and stuck around to have a practice cat date with Lucky Charm, who spent most of Thursday evening laying upside down on my lap. This time she curled up into a tiny ball across my palms (at 2 years old, she's no bigger than the Spots were when they were 4 month old kittens).

I don't know how long I sat there. Eventually I got up to put her back in her cage. The way she pressed her nose against the bars made me so sad. If I weren't going out of town on Wednesday, I don't think I'd be able to resist bringing her home. Someone so needs to adopt this little kitty. There might not be a more perfect lap cat in the world!

 

She can do it!

Liz says Elsa the shelter kitty looks like Rosie the Riverter. I think she's right! Here's the can-do cat:

Check out that look of grim determination on her little face. And here's Hillary as Rosie (seen on msy_nyc's Flickr stream). Elsa got herself that one vote she needed in no time. Hillary? Not so much. On to the Guam primary (on May 3, 9 delegates).

Some day, someone...

While watching Max take his morning walk across the kitchen counter, I told him I still don't understand how it's possible that nobody scooped him up during all those weeks he waited in a shelter cage. He's the best cat ever!

Some day - hopefully one day soon - someone will say the same thing to Smokey, who's been waiting since March 3 for a home. He is stunningly gorgeous, but you can see in his eyes that he's getting tired of not being picked. I hope his person is just around the corner...

He's a Max cat too!

Max was brought to the shelter with his sister Maxine. They were only 6 weeks old and sooo tiny! Maxine had already founded a home, and Max's adoption was finalized during my volunteer shift. But for a few hours I listened to him call out to passers-by in his little kitten voice. "I'm cute! Look at me! Look at me!" he said.

My Max does that too! Whenever I open the apartment door, he runs out into the hallway and tries to start a conversation with any neighbors he sees. This morning, feeling neglected while I brushed the Spots, he got up on top the kitchen cabinets and meowed until I came and told him he's the cutest.

Romeo beware

Her name is Juliet and she is sooo pretty.

But watch out for those sharp little teeth!

This itty bitty girl (she's barely 3 months old) is surprisingly fierce. First she roared impatiently while I brushed Rico. When her turn came, she squirmed out of my grip and clawed her way up to my shoulder. I reached up to grab her and heard a terrifying hiss.

Finally she settled down on my lap and let out the sweetest little purr. Wow - she's a handful! See?

Spots

Here are the Spots as kittens.

And here's a kitten named Spots! Like Rico, he's a shelter cat too. I found him cowering at the back of his cage. I wasn't sure he'd like me pet him, but when I reached in, he purred big time! Apparently he's much braver than my big gray scaredy cats.

I love his pink nose. And his stripy orange tail. But his worried looking face made me sad. Hang in there, Spots! You'll be home soon!

He reminds me sooo much of Max

This is Max.

And this is Rico. I met him at the shelter on Thursday. His previous person moved to a nursing home and left him behind :(

He reached out of his cage just like Max did, and curled up on my lap the way Max likes to. They have the same meow, even. But Rico is a lot fluffier.

He's a really fun cat. Whoever takes him home will have such a great time with this guy! Rooting for him to get adopted soon...

Cookies and Cream!

Speaking of cookies, I met someone from these two kitties' new family on Thursday. He came to the shelter with a friend who's looking to adopt. He said Cookies and Cream are crazy little monkeys who love to jump and climb. They're 7 months old and sooo much bigger now.

I love it when pairs of cats get adopted together. I felt bad when someone filled out an application for Banks (who looks a tiny bit like Max) but not his brother Baxter. Baxter ended up with someone really nice, too, but I wonder if they miss each other?

On a much sadder note, I also ran into Chris Gonzalez and Dan Murray. I'd read on the Shawington blog feed that Jack, their Beagle, got lost over the holidays. For the past 5 weeks Chris and Dan have been making regular rounds through all the local shelters, hoping someone might have brought Jack in. Poor puppy... I hope he makes his way home.

They match!

Yay for Domino! He's on his way out of the shelter and into a foster home! When we first met last week, he was in a sorry state from having lived outdoors. He's still looking a bit disheveled, but the scar on his nose has healed and his burnt whiskers are starting to grow back.

It's so awesome that he'll have Ruckus and Elsie to keep him company as he continues to recover.

Thank goodness he fits in with their color scheme. As his soon-to-be foster mom puts it, "IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THEY MATCH" :)

Did they learn to do this at Washington Humane Society?

Here's Max sitting on a laptop keyboard.

And here's Oliver sitting on a laptop keyboard. Did they graduate from the same mischief making class for shelter kitties?

Dewey must have gone through a different training program. He reads.