Webster gets a family.
If you do not know Webster, his post is here
If you do not know Lara, her post is here
If you do not know my Elvis, her post is here
Webster got adopted by my best friend in the entire world.
Her house has been too sad because they lost their old man Foxy cat.
Cancer.
Foxy was Lara’s Elvis.
Lara has two other cats— Lady, and her Kitten (who has not been a kitten for very, very, very many years but never grew out of kittenishness)…. and after Foxy was gone, Lara could see that Kitten was struggling.
Kitten loves to be fussed over and interacted with in a very cat-specific way that Foxy excelled at… but Lara’s other cat, Lady— has no interest in stepping up and being nanny to the adult child who still lives in her basement… get a job.
So Lara was thinking about getting a companion for Kitten… but, you know, the thing with adopting an animal… they are all so different and unique, and Lara needed a cat who had a very specific and unusual trait.
Basically, at that exact moment, I started writing about how Webster just LOVES other cats… KITTENS IN PARTICULAR.
Lots of people thought I should keep Webster. But I was not a good fit for him… fostering means upheaval, turnover, and a two-week quarantine— longer, if the kittens are not doing well!
Webster needs a home where every day he can have stability and do what he loves best— his purpose on earth seems to be loving other animals, and he TRULY takes it very seriously… you can quite literally SEE in his face, how much happier he is with his animal friends.
The first night when Lara came to meet Webster— she asked me if I was sure I wanted to give him up… but the next day she saw what I saw.
I had just gotten all Webby’s kittens adopted, and Lara could SEE.
He wandered the house.
Sitting near us, but then wandering around… returning… but leaving again.
He was not HOME, with me.
Lara said— buddy, I can see that you are at loose ends… we will take a trip and see if you can be HOME, with my Kitten.
View this post on Instagram
How’s it going at Lara’s house?
Slowly.
Cats + new cats.
Rarely involves the cancan.
Lara’s cats were like— MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED US BECAUSE WE WOULD HAVE SAVED YOU THE TROUBLE.
Fortunately, Lara and her husband fell in love with Webster… her husband especially, bonded FAST— basically, INSTANTLY… and if you are an animal lady, married to a man who was NOT an animal person when you met him… (ahem, Paul) YOU know, AS I DO… that watching your partner fall in LOVE with a fluffy being, makes you love the human even more.
Adding love is good, even if it also adds stress and need-for-patience.
AND… it does seem… things are improving!
Proximity is becoming fine!
AND! AND! Recently, there was a lap-emergency and a lap had to be shared for unknown-to-human-reasons and it was acceptable to all… but no encore yet.
Lara started using a Feliway diffuser… she feels that it is making a difference!! I had never heard of this!
There are two kinds, and she is using the one for multiple cats… she told me that she had used the other kind previously for another cat, and also thought it helpful, FYI.
I wish I’d had one of these for some of my adult fosters who could have used some calming, and I will be ordering one.
It’s been three months and there is definite progress… although, the above photo implies companionship and that’s not quite accurate.
Lara knows this is hard for Webster, and we are all HOPING SO MUCH that given a little more time, we will have a friendship.
In the meantime, he is with humans who love him very much.
Webster is lucky.
Many shelter animals are not.
There are animals right now, exactly like Webster, waiting.
ALL we have to do, to divert their journey to euthanasia, is give them a home.
There is something different about helping adult cats.
The way they look at you when you open the cage.
They have lost hope.
WE HUMANS, can a make a difference.
xoxo, VEB
Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
Cat Public Relations and Media Representation
December 7, 2018 @ 10:00 pm
I LOVE Feliway! I always use it during new cat introduction period. First, in the new cat room during closed door period. Second, in other areas of the house during remaining introductory stages. Another really good time to use it is if you have a cat who is ill or is especially stressed out.
I’m so glad Webster has a very loving home. He certainly deserves it. Maybe someday soon he and his kitty family will become fast friends.
Of course, I have a soft spot for him because he looks like my kitty, Domino, who is also a long-hair, black and white Tuxedo boy. Dommie also has the sweetest, most loving personality and is so loving with one of his Snowshoe kitty sisters. With the other sister, not so much (she can be a bit of a bully).
December 7, 2018 @ 10:03 pm
I’ve been lovingly stalking you for over a year and this is my first reply. =)
How have you not heard of Feliway?! It has been amazing for my cats. I have not used the diffuser. I like to use the spray bottle. A tiny one lasts forever. You spray it once on the areas the cats use most. With new cats it’s once every other day the first week. After that it’s 2 times a week until you no longer need it. The spray works wonders when you have to take kittens or an adult cat to the vet. One spray in their carrier and they’re not as anxious to take a trip. Kittens are a lot less freaked out by new felines than adult cats. So if you’re ever fostering an adult I highly recommend using Feliway.
Also. In April I adopted THREE 4-week old abandoned kittens and it’s all your fault. One of them looks like Elvis. We call him Oreo. One went to live with a good friend. A few months after the adoption our grown up fluffy cat was hit by a car. It was a huge shock. I experienced a moment of insanity/frustration/fury/severe pain, that the very next day I adopted an 8 week old kitten that looks exactly like the one we lost. We (2 kids, husband, 3 dogs, kittens) all fell in love with him instantly. He is now mine and I am his. He thinks I’m his mom and like to nurse on my fingers and neck if I let him. I try to keep him away from my neck because, you know, my husband might get jealous if I got a hickey from another man.
December 8, 2018 @ 2:13 am
VEB you are the most wonderful cat person and writer! Thank you for being you, and for caring so much!! Thank you for sharing the joy and the sadness!
Last summer I visited the Montenegro. It’s a tiny country, part of the former Yugoslavia. There are an estimated 100,000 stray cats and dogs there. They have a handful of municipal shelters for dogs. At least they call them shelters. Fenced enclosures, with dogs chained to wooden dog houses. No vet care, lots of disease. When they run out of food the dogs eat stale bead. Maybe contain 500 dogs total in all the shelters combined. Probably fewer than that.
For cats there is nothing. No shelter. Lots of disease, injuries. Those plus the brutally cold winters are what keep the population in check. I was prepared to donate to a spay and neuter program there. But there wasn’t any program. The people who feed colonies of cats are demoralized and have no hope for improvement.
So we started a group, Kotor Kitties, to create a program to spay and neuter the strays and spread some compassion. I would love to talk to you or any of your readers who would be interested in helping! You can find us on Facebook: Kotor Kitties. Taking on a whole country’s strays seems crazy, but what can you do?
December 8, 2018 @ 10:13 am
I love you.
I’ll share the Facebook and GoFund me pages in an upcoming post along with your story.
THANK YOU FOR DOING.
xoxo times one million
ps- for anyone reading the comments:
https://www.facebook.com/Kotorkitties/
https://www.gofundme.com/kittens-are-cute-but-neuter-is-cuter
December 8, 2018 @ 1:52 pm
Another cryer over here. So much sweetness in one post! Thank you for sharing!
December 10, 2018 @ 10:15 pm
I adopted an older lady several years ago, who reached through the bars of the cage at the shelter and tapped me on the shoulder. She chose me. She turned out to be an inscrutable tortoishell manx, who came to my pillow the first night, slept on my head and gave me a literal shoulder massage. Wow, I had no idea what a friend she would be.
December 24, 2018 @ 2:56 pm
So happy for Webster to have found a loving home with your wonderful friend! Even more wonderful that he bonded so quickly with your friends husband!
All my adoptions have been adult cats who lost their homes and were left at shelters. I did have one who was a stray who lived in my garden (she was a lovely garden companion) until she was injured by raccoons and came inside to live after her leg had to amputated. Sadly, Miss Grrrr (Tiger) did not really like living inside and my other 2 adopted cats never accepted her, not that they accepted one another either. 🙁
I am so sad for you about your most recent family of sweet kittens, Cow Man and his siblings. Such heartbreak…and you gave them a wonderful, much loved life to enjoy during their short lives – that means EVERYTHING. Thank you and Paul for giving them a home and love, and for doing the same for other kittens. Kindness is such an important quality.
January 21, 2019 @ 2:32 am
Yes to Feliway!! All the diffusers in all the outlets at every stressful time! Saves feline and human sanity! Also, marriages. Also, they smell like kitten paws.