Cows 2.0

After the voids left I empty nested for a long, stressful week.  I was packing and preparing for my family to fly to Hawaii to spread my mother's ashes.  I'm a planner, but my last visit to Hawaii was 40 years ago and there were policy restrictions to the one place my father could remember.  We ended up going with no real plan except to look around when we got there and pick a place.  We did consider spreading them at the lookout my dad remembered, just on the sly, but it was crowded, freezing, and windy.  Any attempt to spread ashes would have resulted in everyone being covered in more than just my mom's love.  In the end, we spread them in the grove at my aunty's house- a beautiful and serene place where she will be with family.  It was a casual and intimate goodbye, and I felt both a little more empty, but a little more comforted with just a little more closure to our unexpected loss. But I was ready for the healing powers of more kittens and had let the foster home coordinator know when I would return.  Before I heard anything, another foster reached out to me asking if I'd be willing to take her 3 cows while she was out of town.  I didn't hesitate to say yes!

The day after we returned from Hawaii, we were hosting foster clinic at our house.  The cows showed up for their vaccination appointment and just stayed.  My dad likes to hang outside or in his room while our home is invaded with fosters, but I took him Angus.  The clinic volunteers and I loved sneaking peeks at him, talking to Angus until they both fell asleep. 

According to their first foster, Lori, Angus was the sweetheart snuggler of the bunch. He definitely loved being curled up with dad, but after clinic I got them settled in my kitten room where Angus had to be picked up and coaxed to cuddle with me for the first two days.  Bessie, on the other hand, attached herself to me while Clover explored.  

For two days, Bessie and I would wait until Clover was done exploring and Angus finished his lonely snooze to join his sisters in my lap.  And for two days, I also watched Angus spring up and sprint to my husband if he entered the room, wrapping around my husband's feet and begging for my husband to pick him up, though every single meal he ate was delivered by MY hands! The hubs would always hand him back to me and Angus would tolerate my love until the next time he heard my husband approach so he could abandon me with enthusiasm all over again. 

But he couldn't resist my affections for long and after the first few days, he began to show me why he was Lori's favorite.  I was nearly always covered in the trio whenever I was in the kitten room with them.  

If I had to leave them, they almost always waited at the door for my return.  

These sweet babies loved everyone who visited them and loved to be held and snuggled.  They even tolerated being shoved into a variety of costumes from my kitten costume closet. 

I know that's a LOT of bunny pictures, but it's just a small % of what I took. I just couldn't choose!! They were SO CUTE as bunnies!

As they grew, they became more confident.  They figured out how to get into the cat boxes on my cat wall without any prompting.  If they weren't snuggled on a human, they were almost always there.  

But Bessie would usually track down someone to climb like a beanpole so she could sit on their shoulders. 

Initially, I only had them for a few days while their foster was out of town, and then I empty nested again.  I work full time and can't take bottle babies, so I was eagerly awaiting the growers to start arriving- most of the kittens in the rescue in March/April are under 4 weeks old.  We were intaking 1-4 litters/day, but all too young for my work schedule.  So I was THRILLED with Lori reached out to me again.  She had another 2 out of town weekends and wondered if I could keep them, get them to surgery, and take them to Petsmart for their adoptions.  YES! But the surgery center's planned renovation fell behind schedule and they had to cancel the spay appointments, so only Angus got fixed.  And he had complications with his surgery that we had to monitor. So we turned him into the cutest waddling pineapple I've ever seen. He did have a few hours as a perfect peach, but he kept wiggling out of that one.  He managed to navigate around quite well despite his oversized accessory. 

The delay in spay surgery for the girls, however, put a little monkey wrench into my plans.  Another foster had reached out to me to take over her nursing mama cat with her 5 babies, and I was scheduled to get them a few days after the original Petsmart adoption date.  I never get kittens that young, but with mama doing most of the work, I could leave the kittens in her care while I worked and focus on taking care of mama. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up!  Luckily, the timing worked out for Lori to return home and reclaim her little cows until they were ready for adoption.  I was sad to see them go, but adoption day is also emotionally draining.  It's really hard to take them to Petsmart and force myself to walk away, wondering if you'll ever see them again.  But this time, my foster mom's dreams came true! Within 24 hours of adoption, both families posted pictures in our alumni group!!

Angus, now Sky, looks quite content in his new home.  He has 2 feline siblings and his new mom is sure they'll be fast friends.  She is delighting me with frequent updates in the alumni group, and I am so grateful to be able to watch him grow there.

Clover and Bessie (now Willow) lucked out in a home willing to take them as a pair.  They have a puppy playmate and their new mom is obviously in love with this sweet duo.  

Loving kittens is easy.  Giving them up so you can love some more can be really difficult.  But seeing them pampered in their forever homes makes it worth the heartache.  I'm so grateful to their forever families for sharing these beautiful pictures and updates!