August 3, 2008
Two beautiful kittens still looking for a home
I wanted to put up a separate post about Shadow and Boo, two of the kittens we met yesterday. This adorable pair is still looking for a home, and they’re just about the cutest cats I have ever, ever seen.
Shadow and Boo are not brother and sister, but bonded at their foster home, and they stick close to one another. Shadow is a couple of weeks older, but both of them are around 4-5 months old. Shadow is pure black and moves like a panther. Boo has truly beautiful tortoiseshell markings, and both of them are soft and sleek.
These guys were a little skittish around us at first, but it was clear that in less than a week that they’d be as comfortable with a new owner as they are with their fosters. Both of them love to play, but Boo dominates Shadow, even though she’s the smaller of the two. Boo leaps and bats the feather toy, and Shadow waits until she’s tuckered out to have a go at it himself. At one point the two of them pounced on each other for a little wrestling match. And when Boo got tired, she laid down on my purse, as if claiming it, which really tugged at my heartstrings.
Playing warmed them up to us, and they allowed us to pet their faces and backs – the longer we stayed, the more comfortable they were with us. Boo even forgot herself for a minute and let me pick her up. She relaxed in my arms for a minute before remembering I was still a stranger! Shadow flopped over and purred loudly as I pet his belly – and during our play session, he kept going over to the fosters to get some petting from them. It was so obvious that they’d settle in comfortably once they found their new home, and that they’d both be really loving and affectionate once they trusted their new owners.
It really tore me up to have to choose between the two pairs of cats we met because they all had great personalities. The hard part about choosing to not adopt Shadow and Boo was to know that we wouldn’t really be watching the cats we chose grow up – and these guys are at a point where they’re litter-trained (so not as much work as a little bitty kitten) but still just as fuzzy-cute and rough-and-tumble as the next kitten. I’d have to say that they’re the perfect age for kittens!
The good news (for you, the cat lover!) is that these guys are still out there for adoption. If you’re thinking of adopting cats or kittens, you should really consider adopting a pair because cats behave a whole lot better if they’ve got a partner, particularly if you are at work all day. And I’d argue that you should really consider adopting black or partially black cats because they have a harder time getting adopted – and you can’t tell me there is any cat alive cuter than these two blackies.
If you do want to know more about Shadow and Boo particularly, they’re being fostered at Homeward Trails in the Washington, DC/Northern Virginia area, and their Petfinder page is here:
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=11093467
. On it, you’ll find contact information for their adoption coordinator, so you can get in touch and set up a visit with them. You should note that though the adoption fee for the pair is $150, a representative from Homeward Trails suggested that they would be willing to get them altered before you adopt them (Shadow is old enough, and Boo is just getting to that age), so that you could adopt them with spaying/neutering already done for just $50 more (which is much less than you’d pay a vet to alter both animals).
I’m just hoping for a good home for these little darlings. After meeting them and Spark and Toby, I really just wanted to adopt them all! If you do inquire after adopting them, tell their foster that Lauren sent you.
Adoptive parents…of cats!
Saturday morning, Allen and I went to two different foster homes to visit some potential cats! After both visits, we decided to adopt Spark and Toby (who will need new names – at least Toby will for sure), and we expect to bring them home next week!
Spark and Toby are year-and-a-half males who bonded the first time they ended up at Homeward Trails rescue. One or both of them ended up there because of a death in their family. Then they were adopted together – on a trial adoption because the woman knew she had allergies. Their adopter hoped she could contain her allergies, and she tried until the very end, when those allergies landed her in the hospital. (It’s telling that she’d go that far to try to keep them – and understanding that she had to return them to the rescue.) So Spark and Toby returned to Homeward Trails, where they’ve been living in PetMAC, Homeward Trails’ pet goods store (which also serves as a sort of pet store, with all adoptive animals).
For all that, these guys have amazing personalities. With all that disruption, you’d expect them to be withdrawn or at least hesitant. But when I visited PetMAC a few weeks ago, Spark met me at the door and allowed me to carry him across the store within 30 seconds of my arrival. Toby climbed up onto my lap when I sat down, and he rubbed his face against my chin. They’re friendly to the nth degree, and the only conflict when they meet a stranger is determining which one will be first to get petted. We liked how well-adjusted they seemed and how easily adjustible.
Here are some pictures, taken when they were a bit younger; they’re almost full-sized cats now. Toby is the orange and white tabby, and Spark is the black cat. We’re open to suggestions for new names!
I should mention that there are a couple of other reasons we decided to adopt Spark and Toby. For one thing, people don’t adopt black cats (or black mixes – tuxedos, torties, etc) as often as they do other colorings. Allen had a black cat growing up, and we both think they’re adorable, so we specifically looked for at least one of the cats to be black. Secondly, these guys are a little older, which means it’s harder for them to be adopted than for kittens. And finally, we wanted a pair who had already bonded (siblings or not, which these guys aren’t) so that they’d keep each other busy and happy during the day.
Now that you’ve heard all about the kitties we chose, I’m going to write a post about the kitties we didn’t choose. They were so adorable, we had a really tough time deciding between the pairs, and we’re hoping for a great adoptive home for Shadow and Boo too.
