homes for kittens

The happy news is that all of the kittens have homes. The bad news (and it makes me cry) is that Mama Cat is walking around calling for her babies. She stands at the top of the stairs, just like she always has, and mews. When her babies heard her, they would eventually come to her. Now, after she calls for them and waits, she starts wandering around the house looking for them. She seems lost and it makes me sad.

(Every one asks what we are doing with Mama Cat and the answer is that Mike and I do not currently agree on the course of action to be taken. She has scratched the leather couch, so that's his issue with her. He suggested getting her fixed and taking her back to her "family"--you know the homeless cat colony. I told him that I can't do that and he then reminded me that she had at least one cat that loved her back in her old digs. He always lightens the mood.)

Now on to the happy part--the kitten's new homes...

Fluffy went first. He is now known as Bob and he went to a sweet woman Mike knows from work. We took a picture with each kitten before s/he went to her/his new home.

Another sweet woman from Mike's work adopted Racoony. She has a ten-year-old daughter who, we hear, is loving him. We took him to her at work.

(Poor Racoony is probably excited to get away from the head-smashing.)

We had five left and they were now nine-weeks-old and they started scratching the leather couches, so I posted an ad on ksl. A cute mom of three little kids wanted a girl and a boy. She ended up taking Penelope (who we think is the only girl of the bunch) and Ebony.

Kiki has LOVED Ebony from the beginning. He always picked him to hold and snuggled him at night. I prepared him as best I could. We talked a lot about helping the kittens become good pets for their new families by holding them and playing with them. Whenever we talked about them being adopted Kiki said that Ebony would not get adopted.

Well, the day came and when it was time to send him on his way, Kiki got him in a death grip and ran to the bathroom. I asked him to let go. I reminded him what our job was. I told him it was okay to be sad. I told him these people were in the living room waiting for their new kitten. Nothing worked. I finally resorted to distraction. I suggested to him that maybe we could go have some ice cream. He loosened his grip and I told him to say goodbye. I grabbed Ebony and we sent the two kittens on their way.

While this family was at our house, we got confirmation that the twins had a family, so that just left Harper. The next day we got a call from a woman who was interested. Her little boy had just had a birthday and he had been saving his money for a cat. They ended up coming that afternoon and adopted him. (Update: I got an email from this family. He is doing great and his new name is Dexter, which I think fits him perfectly.)

My dear friend Brittany has a sweet mom who said that the twins should just not be separated. I couldn't agree more. She is such a cute grandma, and is adopting them for herself, but also for her grandkids. She and her husband brought the grandkids with her to pick up the twins. They were so excited and cute with them. I took a picture of each of my kids with the twins before they went with their new family.

Bev shot this picture of me holding them while we watched Oprah: Behind the Scenes.

Like many adoptive families, we have requested updates on the little darlings. We all loved them--even Mike had a soft spot in his heart for them. Other than the Mama Cat issue and some scratched couches, this has been a great experience. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. There is nothing like having little kittens in the house and watching them grow. It was fun watching Mama be such a good mama and take such good care of her babies. I loved watching my kids love and care for the babies. I loved meeting all of the wonderful families that adopted them. I know that these little kittens will make great pets and bless their lives, like they did ours.

Best experience ever!

And if you haven't had enough, enjoy this: (wait for the 30 second mark.)

We will end this post with this gem. (Thanks Randy and Sarah for sharing.)