Lilly was adopted last weekend and is home with her new family. Bear is missing his playmate - Luna just isn't in to running/wrestling/wipeouts at full speed like a puppy.

Half of the kitties in my spare bathroom went to a different foster home and that has been NICE!

Poor little Bear - it was fine for him to be here for a play-day with Lilly, he enjoyed the whole day running and wrestling but then when it got dark and we were ready to go night-night that first night -- things were not OK. I don't think he has been away from home before. He paced. He panted. He whined. He jumped on and off the bed. No one slept much the first night. Last night was better :-)

Today we went for a ride in the car just the two of us. I put him in the back behind the dog barrier but he is a smart pup and when he couldn't get out the top or side, he pushed the rear seat forward and surged into the car seating area, went to the front passenger seat, plopped himself down, put his head on my knee and laid there quiet as could be the entire trip. I guess that's where he is supposed to ride. Per Bear. Ummm.

Well, Lilly has been here a week and a half and ... I've had exactly ONE SOCK chewed. Of course, she gets two walks each day and has Luna to run with her and keep her out of trouble. Sigh...well, she needs someone else who will keep her busy. That first night Luna crawled over to me and heaved a big sigh like she'd had a really hard day. So ... we have another puppy to keep Lilly busy and give Luna a rest. His name is Bear and he is a black lab born the middle of May so they are almost the same age, Lilly is about a month older than Bear. They are thundering up and down the hall and thumping against the walls and wrestling on the floor until someone (usually Lilly) squeaks. Luna and I are monitoring them from a distance. What a change for Bear -- his Dad and Mom lost their house and then the Dad was diagnosed with cancer and before you know it - Bear was living in a van. It's hard to imagine life with a 50 lb, 10 month old puppy in a van.

I also have eleven cats in the spare bathroom. Everytime I get caught like this I just appreciate my brother SO MUCH because a few years ago I told him that I wanted a cattery for Christmas and he said "What's that?" and so I explained it is a screened-in outside porch for the cats to safely sit outside and watch the birds in the fresh air. The thing was -- I wanted one with levels that was big enough to put the litterbox outside so I didn't have to deal with it inside the house.

He found a stand-alone kitchen pantry at a Habitat for Humanity sale - he took off the doors and put screens in, added holes in the shelves and removable ramps for them to go up and down and voila - we put a cat door in the bathroom window and now they have their own little tri-level condo. It is REALLY nice. When JoAnne asked if I could be a one-night stop-over for five cats because one of the foster homes wasn't quite ready for them, I agreed. But, when I got them, there were ten cats because the other foster home fell through. Then, they found another kitten that belonged in the batch. They are nice cats and kittens (two Moms and their kittens) but still - it is too much for me with the two puppies and Luna. It's been a busy week.

Geni was adopted this weekend. Someone walked by and Geni is apparently the twin of their dog who needs some company. They have two cats. I told JoAnne, Geni is an announcer of every cat movement - she doesn't chase cats, she just lets you know when they move ... to the bedroom ... to get food ... to the chair. It took me a long time to figure out what she was barking at when she barked but once I figured it out - I told JoAnne ... for the sake of their sanity, don't let anyone with cats adopt Geni. JoAnne told them about Geni but they said that they had successfully trained their dog to ignore their cats so - Geni has a new family and new life - YEAH.

Sunday was a busy day for us because -- Lilly came back! Lilly is one of Luna's puppies that was adopted out back in June/July. Lilly was returned because: SHE IS CHEWING. I said to JoAnne, "Huh? A puppy? Chewing?" Ah well, it is nice to have her back home and Luna is happy to see her. Lilly is a sweet, playful puppy. Last night Luna laid down and sighed a BIG sigh. She was tired. Puppies are hard to keep busy. So far, I haven't seen anything chewed but ... she's only been here a couple of days and I've got my eye on her, especially when she is quiet.

What a crazy Christmas!! We had so much snow and ice that most people just stayed home. Not everyone, though. The cats were absolutely flying out of PetsMart -- and the cats we have in foster homes waiting to come into the store couldn't get in because of the weather. At one point, we only had three cats in the whole cat area. It was amazing! Now the streets have cleared and we have batches of kittens either on their way in or already in the store. We have a litter of eight, then a group of three and we also have ten cats that someone was going to shoot coming next week. It is amazing to me with all of the available support groups that we still have neighbors or friends or just people jogging by that stop and save an animal - someone saw a person throwing kittens off a bridge and offered to take the ones that were not yet dropped, another person was jogging by a fence and saw two kittens hanging over the top -- and they were still wiggling. I can't even count the number of cats that are left in apartments and houses when people move out . And those babies came in from just the past few months -- it's a good thing that people out there are alert and take the time to stop and help. Sigh.

Amelia has been adopted!! YEAH!! You may remember her. She is the nicest cat BUT - she apparently hates other cats. We put her into the store and she immediately started hissing at everyone and everything that moved. Then, she got downright nasty when the kittens came in and started crying in the cage directly beneath her. It was clear that she was not making a good impression on ANYONE. So - we decided to try to adopt her without having her in the store. Last week someone came in looking for a female tabby -- Amelia was brought into the store t meet them -- but not to the cat area -- and, she curled right up on the available lap and ... went home with a new litter box, dry and canned food (she LOVES canned food) and all sorts of new things to see and play with - it's always nice to have a happy ending, especially when the animal in question is not putting their best foot forward even though you KNOW they have a great personality and are sweet -- but not when they are stressed out. At the follow-up call, both Amelia and her new family are doing great together. What a great way to start the New Year!!