the kitties



All of the cats are positive for feline leukemia. I became passionate about adopting FeLV+ cats in early 2015, when I adopted my first two - Oscar and Harper. I eventually added Sawyer, Taylor and Sully to that mix. I don't want to rehash the whole story of my original FeLV+ clan (because the way I lost them all was heartbreaking and awful), but they were amazing, and wonderful, and beautiful cats. They all taught me so much, and somehow created a space in my heart that I think was meant to be filled by these new little loves.

Name: Harlow Hope
Gender: female
Birthdate: March 31, 2017
Adopted Date: May 2017
Nicknames: Har, Hars, Har-Har-Binks, Harson Daly, Low, Lowy, Low-Low, Hopers
Her Story: I had been cat-less for only about two months when I saw a picture of baby Harlow (then named "Two Cheeks") on a rehoming group on Facebook for FeLV+ and FIV+ cats. I somehow knew looking at her tiny little face that I was meant to love her again, and my crew that had passed couldn't possibly hold it against me if I wanted to save a new kitten.

Harlow was super tiny when I got her. She was eight or nine weeks old, but still under two pounds. The first two nights, I kept her in the bathroom because I was so afraid she would get lost in the house. She'd cry in the bathroom though, so I let her sleep in my room with me and the dogs. She immediately learned how to climb onto the bed (which of course made me a nervous wreck - she was so tiny). But, for such a small thing, she really is a little spitfire. From the time she came home, she'd put the dogs in their place if they acted up.

Harlow loves giving kisses, and loves sucking on my boyfriend's hair.

Name: Stella Claire
Gender: female
Birthdate: November 2016
Death date: October 2018 :(
Adopted Date: June 2017
Nicknames: Stel, Stel-Bell, Bells, Bella
Her Story: My sweet friend Jenn sent me a message one day, a while after Harlow had settled in, asking if I was ready to adopt another FeLV+ baby. I believe I'd already voiced to her that I wanted another one eventually, if the right one came along (I mean, what's the fun in having just one kitten?). I drove to Delaware to pick Stella (originally named Sandy) up. Watching her interact with Harlow was so sweet when she got home - it was like Harlow was learning how to be a cat from Stella.

Stella is my content old lady. She's calm, peaceful, and is happy to spend the majority of her time just lying around and watching the birds. Everyone always assumes she's older than she is, because she never really went through that silly kitten phase.

Poor Stella was cursed with constant breathing problems. I have her pretty under control right now, but for a while, I was just certain that I was going to come home from work and she wouldn't be with us anymore. She's definitely my little unhealthy baby.

Names: Leroy Jerome & Andrew Malone
Gender: males
Birthdate: September 2017
Death Dates: Andy in June 2018, Leroy January 2019
Adopted Date: January 2018
Nicknames: Stink, Stinker, Stinky Butt, Marmalade Monkey (yes, they both get called all of these things). Andrew is Andy.
Their Story: Sometimes, I'm not sure how I allow myself to be roped into these things, but I was tagged in a Facebook post. Twin boy kittens needed a home. FeLV+. They'd likely be put to sleep if they couldn't fine a home soon. Those Facebook posts sure know how to tug on the heartstrings...

I think I was probably making a pretty pouty face when I asked the boyfriend if he would think I was crazy if we adopted two more kittens. I'm pretty sure he was humoring me when he said it wouldn't be crazy. We drove to Baltimore, Maryland to pick the boys up. I was, of course, immediately smitten. It didn't take long on the car ride back to name the boys after Thom Shepherd songs ("Riding With Private Malone" and its Cledus T Judd parody, "Riding with Inmate Jerome").

I thought about doing separate postings here for the boys, but they're twins, and where you find one, you usually find the other. Leroy is the more adventurous of the two, but that's probably because Andy is deaf - which is a fun added challenge. It actually doesn't seem to affect him as much as I thought it might. Aside from yelling and seeing which one looks, I can tell them apart because Andy is slighty lighter in color - plus a tiny bit smaller than his brother. Also, if you get close, Leroy has one black whisker to differentiate him from his brother. Both boys are rotten little delights, and perfectly completed our little kitty family!

Until...

Name: Gabriella Joy
Gender: female
Birthdate: April 2017?
Adopted Date: February 2018
Nicknames: Gab, Gabby, Gabbers, Gabarella, Ella
Her Story: Gabby is my angry little semi-feral monster of a kitten. I swore after bringing the boys home that I was done, but I got a phone call one night that there was a local rescue with an FeLV+ kitten that would be put to sleep if I couldn't take her (such an unfair thing to do to someone!). I picked her up within a few days of the initial phone call, and have been working on making her love me ever since.

I originally wrote a pretty long handful of paragraphs about how she came to be here with me, but found that I sounded pretty harsh about cat rescuers, so I opted to cut most of what I had to say. I will say though, my experience with bringing Gabby home has made me very leery to trust people who are involved in rescue unless I really know that they are reputable.

Gabby is going to be a sweet cat when she comes around. It took her a long time of being here with me to seem like she might be fitting in to the household. She still hides, she still hisses when I try to pet her, she still refuses to let me pick her up (she's been here over a month as I'm writing this, and I've been able to pick her up a total of three times). She's interacting with the other cats in the household though, and will occasionally let me pet her, if the mood strikes.

I'm going to win her over - and the victory when I finally do is going to be so, so sweet.

Update: into April, and as it turns into May, Gabby has actually turned sweet. She still has no desire to let me pick her up (but I've managed to do it a handful of times, when I needed to check her to make sure she was healthy and such), but she is friendly and spends constant time with the other cats. She allows - and even solicits - petting on her terms. I knew she'd come around. Just in time for my newest surprise...

Name: Zelda
Gender: female
Birthdate: December 2017?
Adopted Date: 13 April 2018
Nicknames: Zel, Zelly-bear, Zell-Bell, ZZ, Zelly, Z
Her Story: Remember how I said I was done? Finished? No more cats? Yes, so do I. It's a funny thing though, the way life works out (and by that, I obviously mean "the way cat rescue people call you and plead with you to take another kitten even though you really don't think you can handle I"t).

Well, here's the thing about Zelda... I took her without having had her tested for feline leukemia. I ran into a rescue friend while I was working, and she was telling me about this adorable little kitten she had ended up with, who had been rescued from behind a school. She said she was so sweet (and I actually believed this woman, because she knows what I went through with Gabby). She knew something was wrong with the kitten, because she walked strangely, and I immediately thought she must have cerebellar hypoplasia. I agreed to meet the kitten, with the intention of taking pictures of her and networking with some of my non-local rescue friends to try to find placement for this baby. She had a strange head-turning issue, that was reminiscent of a little owl, and she stumbled and fell off of things constantly.

It took one look. One look at Jeremy holding her to know we were keeping her. I told him it was his decision, and he told me it was mine, but we both somehow knew she'd be coming home with us. We didn't take her until the next day, and then I ended up researching CH, and posting on a Facebook group about her, and was told from a video I posted that she did not, in fact, have CH. I was heading to the vet with her the next day anyway, so we discussed possibilities. She is currently improving after being put on antibiotics. While she was given no official diagnosis, the vet said she thought it could be toxoplasmosis, and her reaction to the antibiotics would help give us a better idea if that was the case. We also had her tested for feline leukemia that day, and she turned out to be negative - a blessing for her, but a complication for us. Luckily, quarantining her in our room wasn't a problem at all.

Currently, we have had Zelda for about three weeks, and she's been on antibiotics for two of those weeks. She has gotten considerably better, and has learned how to climb, can play with toys, and is learning to jump. We also started her vaccinations against feline leukemia so that she can live as normal a life as possible in our home. She is an incredibly sweet, lovey, cuddly baby who constantly looks for attention from both Jeremy and I. She'll follow us around the room and purr all of the time, and has learned how to climb on our bed to cuddle at night.

I always kick myself the first few days that I say "yes" to a new cat. But then I fall in love, and I'm a ball of kitten-loving mush.

But we're done now. Done. Because six is more than enough.

2 comments:

  1. All such beautiful cats! You definitely have your hands full, and I'm amazingly moved by your efforts. Not everyone would willingly take on cats with health issues, but I'm SO glad people do, because these cats deserve loving homes. It's a wonderful thing. Btw, I'll be interested in hearing about the progress with Gabriella Joy. We have feral cats in our neighborhood, and at least once a year, one of them gives birth to a litter under our porch. I can NEVER get close enough to touch the adults, but sadly, last October (for whatever reason) a Mama cat stopped caring for her two kittens. I listened to them crying out and watched and waited, but they weren't getting fed. So, being an animal lover, I went out and bought kitten formula and bottles. At first, they would not come near me, but because they were so young and hungry, within a day, they approached. Those two kittens are now someone's indoor pets, and they're amazingly sociable (because a human FED them early on.) But I'd eventually like to gain the trust of some of the adult cats in the neighborhood.

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    1. Yeah, I feel like it's my calling to take the ones that no one else wants. The only one of my current crew that seemed like she might have a chance at survival and wasn't at threat of being euthanized for her feline leukemia virus was Stella. The shelter where she was actually seemed like they were going to keep her and care for her. The kicker? She is the only one who gets sick (KNOCK ON WOOD!) and has basically had like a chronic upper respiratory infection for a long time. Luckily, no one else has caught it - I think she's just prone to them - and we're managing it right now with homeopathic drugs I found on Amazon.

      Gabby is my little challenge! She's semi-named-after one from my last crew, Taylor Joy. Taylor hid under a bed in my guest room for like a month before I finally got her to really come around. It took her MONTHS to not be timid when she'd hear noises. She ended up being this AMAZING, sweet, loving cat (she was a senior, and had definitely been someone's pet at some point). I think Gabby would have come around more by now (and she's actually SO MUCH BETTER since I got her) if the dogs - particularly Tucker - weren't an issue. Madden and Champ are pretty calm, and have always been around cats, so they know how to act. I don't think Tucker had met a cat until he moved in here, and I already had Harlow and Stella. He's not bad with them - he just really wants to PLAY. So poor Gabby sees this twenty-five-pound furball bounding up to her, tongue wagging, and she's like "AHHHH!" lol.

      And then there's a stray I feed outside sometimes... it's definitely an adult, but I've never gotten close to it. It comes around on its own terms, but I think it might be living under the porch. There's another one out there somewhere, and I'm just hoping it's NOT an intact male and female - because I'm not trying to have kittens in the Spring. ;)

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