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From commentor Tesslibrarian:
This is Skinny Kitty, but she’s being called Miss Kitty, because to remind her that she’s too skinny would be rude. She’s just a skeleton in a fur coat, but the most affectionate little thing you’ve ever seen. She’s so attuned to people, we thought for sure she was simply lost, but we’re close to campus (students who don’t take their pets with them) and it turns out our neighbors have seen her around for weeks before she literally stopped in front of our car in the middle of the road the other night and refused to move until I got out to shoo her along, at which point she ran to me, purring.
She’s FeLV and FIV negative; we had her vaccinated against rabies last week, given her flea treatment. Our vet says she’s less than 7 years old, but age is hard to determine because she’s so thin. (Once she fills out, I think she’s going to be a round little thing, maybe as much as 8 lbs.) She may have some dental problems–she’s missing her canines, and seems only want to eat canned food, though she’ll eat dry if that’s all there is.
She adores to be held, and now that she’s getting some regular meals, a warmer place to sleep (she has a bed in our shed in the backyard for nighttime; we move the bed to the wooden bench in the back during the day), and was given an antibiotic to clear up her eye infection, she is a little demanding and vocal, too, with an adorable brogue to her meow. It is wonderful to see her with such energy, start to see more personality come out of her. She’s very weak, but will still head butt your knees, even if it means she’ll knock herself tippy.
We cannot keep Miss Kitty, and neither can our neighbors, and I am desperate to find her a good home before it gets cold, but ideally before Halloween. She’s already trying to follow us and our next-door neighbors indoors, which breaks my heart. We are going to be placing her in our laundry room tonight, since it will be in the mid-40s, and the little thing doesn’t have an ounce of insulation, even from muscles.
We aren’t sure how she does with other cats; I think she’d do well with children–she will give a soft hiss or light growl if you are doing something that displeases her, but it’s really just a filing of a complaint so you know she’s unhappy. She also didn’t hide from the princess-themed birthday party our 7-year-old neighbor had outside yesterday, and it was pretty squealy. She’s never once tried to bite or scratch me, and she wasn’t even spooked at the vet, even when they took her temp and shaved her belly to find the spay scar.
She will be the most loving little friend, and we just need to find her a place that will keep her indoors all the time and love her back equally. Would anyone like to love her back? She’s in the wrong life, and I know the right one has to be around here somewhere. (We deliver–she goes into cat carriers without resistance, and doesn’t even mind the trip in the car. As our vet said when he examined her, “She’s too well-behaved to be one of your cats.”)
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Anybody interested, or if you’ve got a lead for a potential home, send me an email (click on my name in the right-hand column) and I’ll hook you up with Tesslibrarian.
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schrodinger's cat
Poor kitteh, I hope she finds good home.
Narcissus
Damn it I wish I weren’t allergic to these things
ruemara
Kage kitteh cousin! Someone, please think of this kitty!
tesslibrarian
Thank you for posting, Annie Laurie.
She’s a really good cat! We kept her in our laundry room last night, and she scratched a bit at the door to the kitchen as we were putting things up before bed. I just said, “No, Miss Kitty.” And she immediately stopped.
She was also fine with going back outside this morning. My husband said she trotted right out into the yard. We are keeping a warming disc in her bed for these cool days we’ve been having.
Deb T
Well you deserve praise for taking such good care of her. I have 2 1/2 cats now. My half cat was a “cat on the loose” (too tame to be feral). I’d seen him around for years, but he started following my cats inside the house to eat and then to sleep when the weather was bad (raining, too hot, too cold, snow). He sometimes stays in the basement and isn’t completely tame. He’ll let me pet him when he’s eating but otherwise flees if I come near???? He won’t let you pick him up.
He’s a big ginger tom and I call him Bill. I think he may have another part time home but I’m not sure. When I first spotted him he wore a collar, but it disappeared long ago. I’m pretty sure I’m the closest he comes to having a full time home.
ThresherK
She sounds like a total doll. Good luck.
WereBear
Remember, black cats are GOOD luck.
My best to this beauty.
Amir Khalid
@tesslibrarian:
It seems Miss Kitty likes you a lot and is kind of settling in. Are you really sure you can’t keep her?
anibundel
I hate these posts. Because we are at cat-pacity in our home and I cannot give them all a good and loving home.
*weeps*
J R in WV
We already have 3 rescue cats & 2 rescue dogs, and so can’t jump on this sweet critter. So sad how people treat their fuzzy friends!
We also foster our neighbors’ dog when they go to work, she’s elderly and wants in from the summer heat and winter cold.
Good luck!!
raven
I put her on my Facebook, I have a lot of cat-people friends here in Athens.
celticdragonchick
I really want her. Unfortunately, I am also at “catpacity” and our landlord doesn’t want us bringing any more cats inside.
:(
Amir Khalid
@WereBear:
Oh, that they are. A little black kitten followed me home a week after my mother passed away, and has been my bestest friend for these past eight years.
tesslibrarian
@Amir Khalid: Alas, yes. If my current beasties were just angry about her, I could get them past that, but there’s a frantic aggravation Dunc is having just to smelling her on us, or even when we go outside that’s heartbreaking.
He and his brother were neglected a bit by us during the last few months of our sweet Jack’s bout with cancer, and are just now settling in to a calm routine where they sleep on the bed and come to sit with us without coaxing (Jack was diagnosed weeks after they came home with us, and given only 6-8 weeks survival, so we didn’t merge them. But he lived another 6 months).
Oddly, she doesn’t feel like my cat, even though I like her so much. Jack felt like my cat even when I knew he belonged to someone else. So I know her correct world is out there somewhere; I just need to find it.
tesslibrarian
@raven: Thank you. She really is a sweet girl.
Raven
@tesslibrarian: I’m just not cat possible. There are plenty over here in this backwater Boulevard neighborhood but my dogs won’t mix.
Raven
@tesslibrarian: Did you see my interview on the Boomers Project?
jenn
Oh, sweet kitty. Thanks for stopping, Tesslibrarian! Good luck finding a forever home for her!
David Hunt
If I weren’t at least 1 cat past catpacity (and in Texas), I’d love her. Unfortunately, the only people I know in the area are not people I’d wish on a cat.
ETA: I am not crazy-cat-guy. I have too many cats (four) because I can’t find the sign that’s only visible to cats that reads “Sucker lives here” and tear it down. They just show up. I am in the phase where I don’t even look at cats in the neighborhood. Avoiding eye contact seems to help.
jenn
Oh, sweet kitty. Thanks for stopping, Tesslibrarian! Good luck finding a forever home for her!
Yutsano
KITTEH!! I hope new home comes quickly!
TRex
I live in Athens and I’m putting word out on my Facebook feed. We’ll see if we can find her a place to live. We’re full up at my house with two cats and just last night a stray in heat turned up on our porch.
If anyone can find skinny kitty a home, though, it’ll be me and my cat-worshipping friends.
bemused
We’ve got two black longhaired female cats, litter mates. It’s the first time we’ve had all black cats and we discovered how hard it is to find them when we are looking for them. They just kind of disappear into the scenery.
raven
@TRex: That should cover this neighborhood!
tesslibrarian
@Raven: That’s a problem with some of the people I know at the library. One has a rescued greyhound, another has two German Shepherds. And amongst the cat-owners, several have 4+ cats already.
I haven’t seen any of the Boomer interviews about anything. We actually don’t get notified when something is added to that site, and are only belated alerted to events. I’ve also been avoiding library-related things when I’m not at work, for a variety of reasons. I’ll look it up.
tesslibrarian
@TRex: Thank You! I just want her to have a really good home. She’s so good, so well behaved, and so affectionate. If it weren’t for Dunc’s freak out, she’d already be asleep on my sofa.
elmo
Unpossible. Five dogs and two parrots in the house now. One of the dogs is a recent foster, a GSD mix who is easily 25 pounds underweight, who we just spent $600 on for persistent severe diarrhea. I wish I could help, but all my resources go into dogs.
imonlylurking
Oh, how appropriate this post it-I’m being nuzzled into submission by our own little black rescue (Shadowcat-she walks through walls). I don’t live anywhere near Georgia and we are already well over catpacity, not even counting the little ginger boy we are fostering until his people find him, but if travel is necessary I will gladly chip in a bit.
raven
@tesslibrarian: Some of our neighbors actually corralled a bunch of ferals and neglected cats from a nutty woman down the street. They had them fixed and this lady went off on them!
ADS
Beautiful cat.
Happy to contribute to vetting/dental/transport costs if needed.
hep kitty
She looks like my dear departed baby. You can tell she, too, is a sweetheart
Must look away now. :(
Lordwhorfin
This cat is an image of my own Mika, but I am in Oregon and Mika is an only, only cat. I wonder if this one is also technically a Bombay or other Black Short Hair/Siamese/Burmese combo. She sure looks it, and the meeping sounds very familiar. She’s going to make someone very happy. Good luck to her.
hep kitty
@TRex: You, sir, are an awesome human being! She looks like a real love bug, too.
tesslibrarian
@raven: This is how cat owners get a bad name. We aren’t all nuts. At least not in that way.
Rome Again
I also have friends in Athens. I’ve Facebooked this post.
Violet
She is so pretty. I hope you find her her forever home.
Raven
@tesslibrarian: Actually this lady is in pretty bad shape. She has about a dozen cats that live in her yard and the street and 6 or 7 dogs. It’s sad but she’s not really approachable. A bunch of us bailed her out during the blizzard a few years back but she doesn’t have the ability to even acknowledge it. She has a mexican family living with her and I think they do their best.
TRex
Folks it looks like we’ve maybe found a home for the lovely little ninja-ette. My neighbor saw the post on Facebook and fell in love with her.
Hurrah!!
burnspbesq
@raven:
TRex is a sucker for kittehs. Drop her off at the WUGA studios and let nature take its course.
burnspbesq
@TRex:
David! Good to see you.
schrodinger's cat
@TRex: That’s wonderful news!
tesslibrarian
@TRex: Yes, we’ll be bringing her over to David’s friend tomorrow evening (I work late tonight, so we (my husband & I) think a daylight transfer would make more sense).
Miss Kitty will spend another night warm and safe in our laundry room (which has two windows and is not a cramped space), and then an afternoon in the sun in our backyard, then over to her new place. I’m so happy–it really sounds like a great environment for her, better than I could have hoped.
I just don’t have words for how relieved I am. THANK YOU!
TRex
@burnspbesq: I’ve left WUGA for a full time blogging gig at Raw Story. Good to ‘see’ you too! We should catch up!
tesslibrarian
Also: This is the best space on the interwebz. If I could afford it, I’d buy everyone a Tunch mug. Instead, I can only offer sincere gratitude for being such a wonderful community.
ErinSiobhan
I love me a black girl cat (we have two of them now). I’m probably biased but, of all the cats we have owned, the black girls have always been the smartest and the best companions.
jenn
Yay!! I’m so glad!
Raven
@TRex: Great job!
Bex
@TRex: Thanks for what you did…I’ve got something in my eye right now, so I can’t type too well…
Anne
Happiness.
TaMara (BHF)
She sounds wonderful and as usual BJ readers come through. Excuse me while I go wipe my eyes and blow my nose. Damn allergies.
burnspbesq
@TRex:
Great news! Glad to hear you’re back in the saddle.
Amir Khalid
It’s wonderful when the the subject of a Balloon Juice pet bleg finds a forever home so quickly.
@TRex:
Any chance of your neighbor giving an update on Miss Kitty once she’s settled in?
gogol's wife
@tesslibrarian:
This is great. Black cats are the best. Thank you for taking care of her and helping her find a home.
scav
@Amir Khalid: Repeat several times, in the best FYWP manner — that is one fine black kitteh. That absolute relaxation in the photo.
Allen
@tesslibrarian: I am so glad that Miss Kitty found a good,loving home. As both of my cats are rescues I am especially sensitive to this subject.
coffeeshopchic
Hi! @TRex’s neighbor here – I’ll be happy to give everyone an update once she’s settled in. I have two other cats and kitty-loving lab mix who are all rescues of some kind or another so she’ll fit right in. my dog and one of the cats are bffs (it’s adorable & ridiculous), and everyone stays inside so she’ll be safe and warm.
cheers!
MazeDancer
@coffeeshopchic:
Thank you for taking this sweet baby kitty. Black cats are such good luck. Many blessings to you and your household.
raven
@coffeeshopchic: Hey there! Thanks for this, the Boulevard Neighborhood is great!
Violet
@coffeeshopchic: Yay! So glad you were able to take her. She looks like an absolute sweetie. Would love to see an update when she gets settled.
WaterGirl
Yay for Tesslibrarian, TRex, coffeeshopchic, and especially Miss Kitty! And yay for the rest of you in Athens who spread the word.
My black kitty likes it when I sing to him: Oh-oh black kitty, bam’b’bam, oh-oh black kitty, bam’b’ba, black kitty gone wild, bam’b’bam. (You get the idea.)
Miss Kitty is gorgeous and I’m so happy for her new life.
WaterGirl
Since this post was so successful for Miss Kitty, maybe someone here will take Sunshine, a kitty in NYC who is looking for a home.
Anne Laurie posted a thread about Sunshine two weeks ago, and as far as I know, she doesn’t have a home yet.
Sunshine’s face just haunts me, and I promised I wouldn’t forget about her until she found a home.
Violet
@WaterGirl: I wish we could get an update on all the pets that have been featured here at B-J.
Rome Again
@TRex:
Awesome! :) I’m so glad to hear this little girl is going to have a home.
As a person who has rescued a cat from the BJ rescue blog, I can say it’s been a wonderful experience. We love our new addition.
coffeeshopchic
Update: Tavi (yep, she has a name now!) is doing great – her energy levels seem to be climbing and her reactions are quicker. She still stays curled up in her little bed most of the time, but she has put my other former alley cat in her place with only a little hissing growl. Once she has a bit more weight on her I expect she’ll be pretty active.