For The Love of Animals

After 4 weeks or so it was time to say good-bye to our 3 foster kitties.







It was much harder than we thought it would be. Much. The first one to go was Zazu. The woman who adopted him had adopted a kitten from Fearless a few months ago, so Zazu will have a playmate, which made us happy.

That's MISTER Nala to you.

Nala (who we thought was a girl, was actually a boy)

Rafiki was very possessive. Mine!

and Rafiki ended up part of Maddie's Pet Adoption Event. It's the biggest free adoption event held nation-wide. Fearless Kitty Rescue was hoping to adopt out all their cats and kittens. It goes on through Sunday (6/1), so if you're wanting an already neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated cat/kitty for free contact Fearless by the end of the weekend (otherwise you still get a great cat with the works but you pay a nominal fee). I'm not sure if all the other organizations participating offer all that, but all the animals (dogs & cats) are free through Sunday.

This may all be for a great cause, but it's still painful to say goodbye to a furry thing you've gotten attached to. Seriously, look at these faces. Nala had such a pathetic meow as we left them behind.



Whaaaaa. Every time Michael & I walked into the kitties' empty bedroom, we'd tear up.

Jack comforted me though and reminded me we still had him (and Zura). They are two great cats, and why we're not taking on any others permanently.

Jack always knows just what to do.

                And guess what?!








The good news is that Nala and Rafiki were adopted out together!

Whoop! Whoop!

Now Michael and I have to decide if we want to do this again. There are many more where these came from. We definitely need to think about it. I love volunteering at Kittyville to clean up after and pamper the kitties, but it's not the same as raising them from pups, so to speak.

One reason we put ourselves through this is because we've debated starting a rescue shelter in the islands. We're wanting to see how it all works and see if we're cut out for it emotionally. I'm really not sure. In order to keep kitties from going feral, you sometimes have to tear them from the feral mother cat. Look at what this cat did for its kittens (it's an old story making its rounds again). I couldn't intentionally take them from her, which seems to be the standard method. Sometimes siblings really bond and don't want to be separated, causing quite the scene. Sometimes an animal you adopt out gets abused. Is there enough good to counter the bad? Dogs are a whole other can of worms, especially on islands where pit bull fighting is still popular.

There are 700 cats on 12 acres here.
Photo by: Christina Gandolfo

Since I'd rather keep clingy siblings together than separate them and apparently have separation anxiety, I'd probably end up like this huge no-kill shelter in California. I would love to visit there as well as Best Friends in Utah. When we visited Hemingway's house in Key West, there were over 45 cats on the property and it didn't seem like a horror movie, so maybe that's our limit. Not sure.

Anyway, there's nothing but relief and some continued mixed feelings. We love the fostering part, but giving them up and wondering where they're going to end up is hard. Maybe we're meant to be cat hoarders - only we'll treat our cats better...

Here's a tour of where I volunteer 4 hours per week.

If that's not enough, you can see that it's been busy at Liberty Wildlife too, thanks to wildfires and high winds, among other things (they've got a great blog). I'm pooped, and I'm not even putting in as many hours as so many others in these organizations. All these places are always looking for volunteers, especially during newborn season, so if any of you want to put yourself through this, give them a call. I know I've made it sound harrowing, but we really did enjoy our 4 weeks with the kittens, and what I do at Liberty is very rewarding too.