A Readers Narration

A visitor to my blog told me this story and I wanted to share it with you, verbatim:

Quote: “I don't really have much of a story, we had a white color mini poodle who died then we got three cats from the SPCA . :) We got a Maine-Coon that was about 10 years old, she seemed lonely. :)
So we got a Tux Boy that was only about 1 year old but he was too much energy for the Maine-Coon :)
And then we got a several month old ginger Tabby to play with the Tux as he is very high energy. :)
Our Tux cat is like a dog, he is smart and he nods his head at you to say hello. :) He always gives you a double head nod as a way to say hi. :) It's funny, as he's like a person since people often nod too. :)” End Quote

I decided to see if I could find some pictures of a Maine-Coon and a Tux Boy, here's what I came up with. A Tux is a Tuxedo cat and I didn't realize it but I believe Molly and Boo were Tux's! Go figure, the things you learn huh! 

Pictures of Maine Coons

Pictures of Tuxedo cats

Picture of Boo, the baby I lost just last year was definitely a Tux Cat!

Molly, Tux Cat!

Catspaw

Well Written Ads Successfully Find Homes for Cats and Kittens

You’ve raised the kittens and it’s time to leave the nest. You have rescued a stray and it’s time to find a good home; what should happen next? To find them a loving home advertising for free, is the quickest way to go, on the more popular classified search engine sites. 

First, find a website like Kijiji where you can advertise everything from selling toasters to giving away kitty’s to good households, read the guidelines and write a really great ad. When I had a litter from my unspayed females to find new residences for (they have since been spayed) and when I rescued three throwaways that were tossed from a car near the dairy we live on, I posted ads on Kijiji that got three hundred responses within the first two to three days and phone calls/emails inquiring about them the same day. Since then, I have successfully found homes for fourteen kittens, three of which were strays and one six month old fixed male cat. How did I do it? Read on. 

Knowing me for the writer I am, I like to include a bit of a story about them that catches people’s attention and I always include the cutest pictures I take from a bunch that I have. I like Kijiji because I can write more than on some of these sites and I can easily update my ad with changes. Here is an ad I wrote for a stray cat that came round one night – yes, of course I took him in. 

“3 weeks ago a 6 month old (my husband estimates his age as 6 months), Fixed, white multi colored cat was abandoned at the farm and has been wandering from house to house ever since looking for someone who will accept him. He is clearly an indoor cat and has been trying to live outside in the barn ever since. The other cats here do not accept him so he's been getting rough treatment from them. I was able to catch him and he's very grateful to be indoors again, as he's not used to the harsh cold outside. He's unusual with a large head and large paws, six toes on each paw! He is healthy. His temperament is VERY loving and gentle. Even after such terrible treatment, he's very responsive to human kindness and compassion.

Please, I know he's not a tiny kitten but he is still a kitten. At only 6 months old, he is as loving as one. He would adapt well to a home with no other animals or to one with younger animals. I believe he would be no trouble around children. He really needs a home and with the Christmas Season soon to be passed, sometimes human compassion passes as well. I would love to keep him but I already have 4 cats and they are not taking kindly to his presence. I have to keep him separated, in a cold porch, by himself, visiting him once in a while until someone claims him and calls him their own. He desperately needs a new home! Please, someone, give him one. He is litter box trained.

Please contact me by email or phone to see him. I will give cat food and kibble to the new owner of this homeless baby.”

Although this seems like a lot of text to include in an ad and I usually write a little less, I included this much because this cat is older and most people want kittens. It’s more the content than the length that got me the results I wanted for this older stray. I have found that telling a story about the animal helps people understand the urgency of finding a loving home for it. This extends to any animal be it cat, dog or bird. The time of year also seems to have a bearing on an ad’s success.  I wrote this one at Christmas last year when it was popular to give a kitten as a gift. If necessary I will keep the animal for a little longer until the new owner can collect it and I usually offer canned cat food or kibble when they come. Because it was the first cat for the new owner, I put together a small 'care kit', he couldn't believe I'd done that and was very appreciative. I have had an email since, the cat has had a vet visit and is doing very well. His new master is happy with him.

Catspaw

As It Happened,

As it happened, Boo’s death coincided with Sassy’s birth of a single calico kitten. We christened her Emerald because we were moving to a hamlet of that name within a few weeks. Molly seemed lost without Boo, she’d wander the house and basement calling for him; she searched outside and Sassy would join her going to all the places Boo usually went. My husband and I weren’t the only ones mourning the loss of our dear friend. It was part of the reason we decided to keep Sassy’s baby, as a balm for all of us and in remembrance of Boo. 

Now older and wiser, Emerald lives in a world of her own where she, exclusively, rules and everyone else is her servant! A beautiful creature with semi long fur in calico colors, she spends her time preening and demanding treats. Highly competitive, she has to get her treats first because she will steal them from the others. Every morning begins the same with Emmy up on her hind legs, almost dancing to grab the treat bag out of my hands with her paws. Like Molly, she is very clever at getting what she wants. She uses her paws, usually with claws out, to steal food from dishes, hands and to gingerly pull treats away from the others.

Since the move she’s gotten used to going outside but demands re-entrance by getting up on her hind legs and in Grand fashion, furiously paws the outside of the patio door. She’s aggressive when she plays and is always the first to do everything. Though she doesn’t like to be picked up and cuddled unless it’s her choosing, the morning or evening crazies find her terrorizing the entire household while everyone tries to stay out of her way. Frequently she has almost successfully gone for a headlong nosedive down the narrow basement stairs. I swear there are invisible brakes on that cat!

Catspaw    

Molly's Introduction

Cat Friend One

There’s this noise that becomes a scratching, then a weight against my back; my cats are up before I am again this morning and are unobtrusively demanding that I rise to greet the day with them. What does it mean when Emerald sits on top of me, batting my nose at 6 am? Is it a ‘get up already and feed me!’ or a ‘good morning, I clicked the button and the coffee is on.’ You can almost hear the sing-song in her meow, almost.

I’m up. Sassy wants outside, Molly wants to be left alone, Emerald is demanding her treat and laid back Winston is just waiting for something to happen; another typical day in the Stewart household. All four have completely different personalities that clash, rather loudly and dramatically at times. Molly is my drama queen, Emerald is a very moody princess; if there was a cat click, she’d be the one dominating it!  Sassy is the ever practical wise mother/matron and Winston, my schoolboy, just seems confused most of the time about what the big deal is between these three girls. So that’s our warm and fuzzy family. 

I will introduce Molly first. Merrill surprised me with this little bundle of delight just after we lost one of our beloved males one night to a car on the dirt road outside our trailer in Alberta. She was a tiny black and white kitten that grew up with Boo, our remaining male. Boo looked over his whiskers at an over- enthusiastic, bouncy kitten who had moved in just when he’d just lost his brother Greymalk but by the time she was half grown they were inseparable; buddies to the end!  Molly turned out to be rather too clever for her own good at times, even as a baby she’d get herself into trouble with her escapades. Oh the tribulations! 

She was originally raised to be an indoor cat; safety, longer life, health issues and all that. But she would jealously watch whenever Boo was let outside then she’d send up a pitiful wail all full of ‘Life’s just not fair!’ and hammer at the door until it was showing signs of being shredded, after that she dashed from window to window trying to see where Boo was outside. I remember her silently and resolutely plotting my downfall as she sat and scornfully glared at me; seeing I was unmoved by this expression of harrumph she adopted another scheme and would follow me from room to room as I opened the windows early on hot days to cool the trailer. Somewhere in her mind’s eye a strategy was forming.  

Maybe, just maybe if she pushed hard enough on the mesh that covered the open window, she could tear a hole in it and get outside. I became suspicious of her designs on my window screens too late when I realized she was suddenly and unusually too quiet, I went to check on her. Yep, that’s exactly what she did. Now a lovely cool breeze was coming through the flapping mesh along with every flying bug in the neighborhood to take up residence in my spare room. Arrrg!

One Saturday morning when Merrill was working on adjusting the pipes from the hot water heater to the underground tubing under the trailer, Molly found this a fascinating occupation to watch. She also found that she could just squeeze her little body through the opening and the great outdoors awaited. Unfortunately, it was later in the evening while I was wondering where she’d gotten herself to that I realized she might have gotten outside again. That sent hubby out the door, at my express command to crawl under the trailer with a flash light to find her, sitting rather uncertainly, on the end of the pipe at 10 o’clock at night and mount a rescue operation.

Eventually I just gave up and let her go out on supervised excursions when I was working in the garden. She quickly improved her techniques for avoiding capture when it was time to come in but Boo usually knew where she was and kept an eye on her. How she loved being outdoors exploring every nook and cranny of her environment.  

Thus started many an adventure with our new companion and family member that would eventually take us all on a cross Canada road trip from Penhold, AB to Prince Edward Island and to new, more bizarre adventures. 

Catspaw