Well, for the last several weeks we have had 5 house guests that have grown into loving, purring, fuzzy companions which we hope to find homes for soon. Their story started the beginning of this month when we spotted a litter of feral kittens roaming around a storm drain in our neighborhood.
Once we talked to several of our neighbors, we found they had been hanging around for a few weeks before that and no one seemed to be doing anything about it, except putting out some food for them once in a while. Long story short, we first tried calling Humane Society to see if they could do the trap neuter/spay release on them and once I said it was a litter/colony of cats/kittens - they told me to call another group of volunteers to trap them instead.
After calling several organizations, one saying they "might" be able to come down and take care of it...but if we wanted to do it ourselves, they have traps available....for a very large deposit just to borrow it! Many phone calls and several days later, we decided to take matters into our own hands and borrowed a havahart trap from one of our neighbors. We left it out for a week, constantly putting food in it every day and checking to see if they would show up again. One week went by without any sight of them and on June 4th, they showed up and we managed to set up the trap, propped open the door with a water bottle and string tied to it and used it just like a drop trap.
We managed to trap four out of five, went back a few hours later, set up the trap and got the fifth one...while it was raining. That was fun. Still they started off so skiddish and wild, now with lots of love, care and good food, they are ready to find a new loving home to take care of them.
The older they get, the harder it will be to find them good homes. So please, if you live anywhere near Manatee County, and would like a wonderfully loving rescue kitty as a forever friend, message me here and we will be more than happy to talk with you about setting up a time to meet the kitties.
I believe an introduction should be in order, so here are images and videos of the little ones, along with a brief bio.
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~ Mia ~
This little girl was a tough cookie when we first trapped the litter. Very anti social and always hid in the back of the cage any time we approached him. After the first week, he lightened up a bit - but 3 weeks in and now she walks right up to us when we feed them and has now walked to our laps to be loved.We named her Mia. Mia loves to play, though still shy and reserved, he has had a lot of extra love and human contact to make sure she knows she can trust us. This bob tail is around 8 weeks old, very active, and has long sleek legs - so he looks very elegant and regal when she walks, even with her little bob of a tail.
- Little Mia - All black, bob tail kitten
- Little Mia, relaxing.
She still needs a little extra work, so it may be best that he goes to a home with no children, to ensure she acclimates to her new home with little to no extra stress involved.
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UPDATE: 6/14/13
Mia is still available for adoption. She is now a little over a year old. We have still had her as part of our lives for a year now and her little personality keeps shining through. She likes to sleep at the foot of the bed every night and loves to roll around and play in the mornings. She is also a very polite little kitty, she loves to watch us cook and likes to sit very quietly next to the table during dinner. She does not beg, but we still give her a little treat now and then. It is so cute.
Here is a recent pictures of Mia:
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~ Jazz ~ [[adopted]]
Here is another bob tail! Jazz is a little boy with black and white markings and long white whiskers, long, long sleek legs and a huge personality to boot. We decided to name him Jazz because he just seemed like a kitty that would be perfect for a musician...well, anyone really, but he certainly lives up to his name. Such a lover and the very fist kitten to run right up to my lap, sit, purr and pretty much demand he be loved! So social, fun, loving and will be a hard one to let go. Still, this little guy will be a lover in any home.
- Little Jazz - male, black and white bob tail kitten
- Little Jazz stretching and being cute.
- Jazz looking adorable, as usual!
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~ Jiji ~
Yes, we named him after the cute little cat from Kiki's Delivery Service. This little boy is an all black kitten, with one little patch of white on the upper part of his chest and little black whiskers/nose. Jiji is a lover as well, he LOVES his belly rubbed and loves to play as well. He will also walk right up to my lap to be loved and usually is the first to finish eating so he can be the first to sit in my lap.
- Jiji - a male, all black kitten.
- Jiji - "Whats that over there?"
- Jiji - Ready for some belly rubs!
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UPDATE: 6/14/13
Jiji is also still available for adoption. He is now over a year old. He is such a card and the one with the biggest personality out of the bunch. He is definitely a lap cat, loves to play and is very curious. He is the less shy one out of all the cats as well. So he would fit into a house with children - but it will take some patience for him to get acclimated all the same.
One thing Mr. Jiji likes to do (among may) is he likes to sleep under the covers! Needless to say, I went into bed with a little "surprise" waiting for me under the sheets. He won't really do that while we are sleeping, only during the day when he can have the bed to himself. Still, its cute and another quirk he has.
Here is a recent picture of Mr. Jiji:
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~ Galahad ~
Here is a sweetheart of a kitten. This was the hardest one to get to open up at first. He was the wildest in the bunch when we first caught the kittens and we were seriously worried about him because he wouldn't eat for the first day or so unless we gave him kitten milk, which he thankfully drank. Now, they say the "toughest" personalities are the ones that fall the hardest and this was very true for Mr. Galahad. He is now has the biggest appetite in the whole litter, is incredibly loving and will purr instantly, even when we just enter the same room as him - you can hear his little motor running constantly.This little guy just melts my heart and he will do the same to anyone who decides to make him a forever friend. He was so very shy, and still is in some respects, but very gentle, playful and has the sweetest expression in his face and eyes. Galahad lives up to his name and in my eyes, is such a pure soul with a kindhearted nature.
- Galahad - an orange and white tabby kitten.
- Little Galahad - stretched out and being adorable.
- Galahad, chillin' by the watering hole. This picture makes me giggle.
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UPDATE: 6/14/13
Galahad is still available for adoption. He is now over a year old. This little man is so tall and sleek. He loves to talk and purr and eat. Whenever we reach down to pet him, he will sit on his back legs and reach up to our hand to get petted. It is the cutest thing. He also has one of the longest tails I have ever seen, which he notices quite often because he loves to chase his own tail! I'll catch him at least once a day running in circles trying to catch his tail, its hillarious!
Here is an recent photo of Mr. Galahad:
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~ Guinevere ~ [[Adopted]]
This little tortoiseshell girl is the one out of the bunch we plan to keep as a new addition to our family. Still a little reserved, she does love to play and seems to be the smallest out of the litter so we suspect she is the runt. For some reason, I have always had a soft spot for runts in any litter - this one is no exception.We kept to an Authoritarian theme with our kitties. Mim and Merlin we named through Disney's Sword and the Stone and we had the name Guinevere picked out even before we found this little girl. We had already planned our next kitty to be a rescue, but it seems she found us instead!
- Guinevere - a sweet little tortoiseshell kitten.
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And that is the lot! I apologize for such a very long blog post. However, I believe it was necessary to tell the whole story of each of these kittens and how they came into our lives. I hope their story and personalities have touched others out there who would love to make them a part of their family.Please send a message in this blog, or you can contact me at the following Email address if you are interested in adopting one of these precious kittens. staylorstudios(at)gmail.com
Thank you so much to those who read through this and to anyone interested in saving one of these rescue kitties.
All the best,
Sarah
