Cat of the Week: Tex

Single black-and-white cat seeks fun-loving human(s) for long-lasting relationship. This handsome young gentleman has long legs and an athletic build. He loves to run and play but also to snuggle. Tex doesn't always get along with other cats but hits it off with all sorts of people. He'd love to come home with you to be your one and only! To learn more about Tex, visit his Petfinder Page.

Adoption Event, Saturday June 7

Do you remember these cuties?


Well, they've grown some and now they are these cuties:

And guess what?! The kitten who was named Fiona is now named Fergus. Yep, we messed up. But he forgives us. They're now neutered and ready for adoption! They will be at the adoption event this Saturday, June 7 along with these other great cats:

Rikki(left), the beautiful tortiseshell will be at the adoption. Holly (right) is still a little shy so she won't be coming. We're still hoping they can be adopted, together though. You can read more about Rikki and Holly here.

Next we have the beautiful Starlet & Lana. They will also be at the Petco this Saturday. They really hope to be adopted together. They've been waiting almost a year. You can read more about Lana and Starlet here.

And finally, the lovely Madison will be making an apperance this Saturday as well. Madison is the mama cat of the late Dicken and the fiesty Dolly. You can read more about Madison here.

So if you're looking to adopt a fine cat or two, stop by the Roseville Petco from 11-2 this Saturday. Let us know you saw us on the blog!

June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month

Whispers enjoying a big stretch. She is available for adoption at our shelter

Across the U.S. in spring and early summer, the cat population explodes with feral and unaltered companion cats giving birth to thousands of kittens for whom there are no homes. Many of these unwanted cats and kittens live out their lives in feral colonies. The more fortunate of these unwanted cats and kittens end up in shelters. Only the luckiest of all are adopted into loving homes. Here are some ways you can help:

Consider adopting a cat (or better yet, a pair of cats) from a shelter or rescue group. Feline Rescue cats are spayed or neutered, FIV/FeLV tested, vaccinated, and vet checked. Our adoption fee is a fraction of the cost of having these services performed independently. And when you adopt one of our cats, you create a spot for a new homeless cat to enter our doors. If you cannot adopt a cat at this time, consider sponsoring one.

Encourage your friends and neighbors to spay and neuter their cats. Spread the word that unaltered animals result in heartache for their off-spring. Also, please consider making a donation to our Spay/Neuter Outreach program to help those with the greatest need and prevent future homeless cats.

Join the fight! Feline Rescue is looking for volunteers to help foster mother cats and their kittens, pregnant cats, elderly, or special needs cats; to tend cats at our shelter and to help with our spay/neuter outreach program. We would love your help!

Sponsor Me: Bobby

Bobby has many claims to fame: his long white coat, his beautiful eyes—one blue and one green, giant paws, his tail (or lack thereof). And don't forget about his outgoing personality.

Bobby is very playful and also appreciates quality lap time and petting. But he can be a little feisty and doesn't like to be handled too much.

As a young guy, Bobby was found wandering around Lake Street and was brought to Feline Rescue. While he has many friends among Feline Rescue volunteers and visitors, Bobby is taking his time to meet his match and find a home of his own. He's looking for a special person or two who are willing to give him a chance to be himself and also time to build a trusting relationship.

In the meantime, you can visit Bobby in Bobbyland (his very own room at Feline Rescue), where he enjoys sleeping in the sun, lounging in his easy chair, and chasing down those little furry mice. You can also sponsor Bobby for just $30.

Donating to Feline Rescue's sponsorship program is a great way to support our mission. Sponsorships make wonderful gifts! Recipients receive a photo and biographical sketch of the cat. Download this form to sponsor Bobby or one of his friends. To see other cats available for sponsorship, click here.

Tomasita

Meet Tomasita. Tomasita may be gorgeous but she's no girly girl. She's a strong, spirited gal who loves to show off her feisty side. But beneath her tough exterior, Tomasita is a gentle soul who enjoys a good head-scratching and petting just as much as the next cat.

Our Tomasita longs to be loved! Sit down beside her and she might just crawl up on your legs or lap for a nice, long cat nap. Or maybe she's in the mood for a game. Tomasita loves to play! She goes wild for a feather-on-a-wand toy. She spent plenty of time hunting down birds while she was a stray.

Now Tomasita is ready for you to supply the cat food. In a comfortable home without the distraction of so many other cats around, Tomasita is ready to blossom into your calm and loving feline friend. For more information about her, call our shelter at 651.642.5900 ext. 3 or visit her Petfinder Page.

The many faces of Thomasita!

In Memory of Hooch

Earlier this week, we received the sad news that Hooch (formerly Mooch) recently passed away. Hooch lived at our shelter for quite some time before finding the perfect home. Our condolences go out to all who knew and loved Hooch, including his best cat buddy, Jack, who was also adopted from Feline Rescue.

Jack (L) & Hooch (R)

It is with great sadness that I am informing you that one of your former cats Hooch (formerly Mooch) passed away from aortic thromboembolism (saddle thrombus) on Friday night. Hooch, an FIV+ cat was adopted by my friend Alicia Nolfi about 1.5 yrs ago. He met the love of his life Jack(who was also adopted from your facility) and they were inseparable (see pic). I believe he had the best 1.5yrs of his life... he was loved and transformed into an amazing and beautiful cat and he will be greatly missed.

The Tree Family: Part Four

This is the fourth installment in "The Tree Family" series. Their story is an example of dedication and perseverance, and we hope you enjoy it. For the begining of the story, please read here.

Miss Fluffy glared at us from the chamber inside the tree, but there were no kittens in view. Once again, a quick decision was required. Guided by an old saying (“A cat in the hand is worth an unknown number of kittens in the tree, and we don’t need her out crossing busy streets anymore now that we know where the kittens are”), we scruffed Miss Fluffy out of the tree and took her back to her waiting kennel.

The tree is in the front yard of a house surrounded by apartment buildings. A conservative estimate would be that it can be seen from the windows of 50 families. It’s hard to imagine what they thought of our visits to the tree, every several hours around the clock, for the next several days. We would approach the tree, make a quick grab into the hole, feel around for a minute or so, and then leave empty handed. We were encouraged, however, by the disappearance (in kitten-sized portions) of the food we placed in the chamber, by the skittering sounds we could often hear inside the tree during our unsuccessful attempts, and by one or two more brief kitten-butt sightings.

Most encouraging of all, of course, was that we occasionally laid a hand on the kitten(s), even though we couldn’t catch it/them. The chamber which appeared at first to be simply circular actually had many side cavities, big enough for a kitten to hide in but not reachable from the hole. My forearm accumulated a large number of wounds as I groped in the splintery bowels of the tree. We began to refer to it as Kitty Fortress.

(Even as we visited the tree, we continued to work the porch as well, trapping one more adult cat, another female, with the same markings. This cat, eventually named “TM,” turned out to be the last one coming to the feeding station under the porch.)

"TM" shortly after capture

At 12:30am on Day 25, we heard skittering as I reached in the tree. I grabbed everywhere I could, coming up empty handed, then made a second pass through the space. At the highest point of the sweep, my fingers closed around something soft, and the tree yielded a small, furry bundle of noise with a strong resemblance to all three adults. We stashed Willow in a pillow case and brought him home to the waiting carrier, then took him to join Miss Fluffy. Their reunion was everything we hoped it would be.

Willow

At 9:15am on Day 25, we touched another kitten in the tree. We had been advised that Miss Fluffy’s two active nursing sites “probably” meant two kittens, but this was the first time we could know for sure that there were at least two kittens. We kept trying all day, but Kitten #2 was simply too fast for us. At 11:30pm, we finally got lucky and grabbed a kitten scruff, and out came Acorn, a spunky dilute calico who turned out to be generally more adventurous than her brother. It had been just over 24 days since we first met Miss Fluffy.

Acorn

Acorn & Willow, brother and sister

Epilogue: We continued search-and-grab operations, along with food monitoring, at the tree for several more days to confirm that no more kittens remained. Willow and Acorn were judged to be about six weeks old when captured on Day 25. This would mean that they would have been no more than three weeks old when they survived without their mother for two days and three nights in early April, when light snow was still coming down some days. It’s clear that Miss Fluffy made a good choice when she picked Kitty Fortress to raise her family. Mom and both kittens passed their initial vet checkups with no major issues noted, and they are now in the Feline Rescue foster system. Now that we know that he’s a boy, Willow is trying to decide whether he’d prefer to be called Willy. Tom and Mary have declared their retirement from cat rescue—at least for now—and are happily cleaning litter boxes once again.

Acknowledgments: Thanks to our many Feline Rescue advisers and coaches (including Nancy, Claudia, Vickie, Cathy, and Janet) and cheerleaders (Kate, Deb, Mona, Sue, and others) in this effort; to our newly met neighbors, including Brian, Cody, Connor, and Tim; and to Pouncer, for putting up with all this nonsense and coming and going in the middle of the night. (If we omitted anyone, it’s probably just because we were too sleepy at the time to remember.)