I’ve never had such a difficult time identifying the sex of a kitten! For a while we thought “boy,” since there is a suspiciously penile-looking thingie down there, but now we think the thingie might possibly be a hernia. The next visit to the veterinarian should result in a reliable gender assignment. But, in any case, we’re still calling the little darlin’ Dolly (spelled that way, too). I doubt that this will cause any psychological problems, since Dolly apparently doesn’t speak English.
Thanks to the Petsmart gift certificate that a kindhearted person gave us, we have bought a shipload of fine kitty toys. Bouncy balls, roll-y balls, jingle balls, springy doohickeys that are fun to bat around, strings we can dangle for the kitties to snatch at, new ceramic water & food dishes. The best thing is a funny plush cat-shaped object that goes over a doorknob, with its long, gangly legs hanging down for cats to bop. Boy, do these kittens like to bop things (especially each other).
Hey pinkfreud, what rescue organization are you involved in? I live in Tulsa, and I’d like to donate to this place. Thanks!
My cats love to bat those springs around. I think those are one of their favorite toys.
Wow, thank you! My husband and I are volunteers with Pet Adoption League. It’s a wonderful organization: unlike some of the other rescue groups, PAL has a no-kill policy. Once an animal is accepted into PAL, we will foster and show that animal until he or she is adopted (except in cases of severe behavioral problems or untreatable illness). PAL is showing cats and dogs at Petsmart (the 41st Street Petsmart every Friday, and the 71st Street Petsmart on alternate Saturdays).
If you visit the PAL website, you’ll notice that Henry and Dolly are nowhere to be seen. That’s because we aren’t fostering them. From the day we got these little lovebundles, we’ve known that they were here to stay.
It’s not whether I’m allowed or not that’s the problem. Indoor only cats are pretty much unheard of over here. And I have no way of letting a cat out.
I would have gone with Kit and Caboodle for names.
Those are cute names! Henry and Dolly were the names of two rescued cats that we wanted to adopt earlier this year; unfortunately, like many stray cats, neither survived. To honor them, we named the new kittens after them.
Here is a photo of the first Henry right before we agreed to adopt him. I don’t have a photo of the first Dolly. She was a calico, and she was neurologically impaired, possibly as a result of abuse.
I have to say eeeww. yuck.
Fortunately for the animals, those of us who volunteer in animal rescue organizations don’t say “eeeww, yuck” quite so readily when we encounter an injured, needy animal. We say “Can we help this creature?”
Sometimes we can help, and the pet goes on to live a happy life in a loving home. Sometimes we can’t help, and the pet has to be euthanized. The cat in the picture may not have been perfect, but he was one of the sweetest, bravest, most grateful animals I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.
My first thought wasn’t ew! It was-oh my god, how sad! Poor, poor baby!
Sorry you take it so badly, I guess I should have printed. What happened to warn a person when linking a picture like that? It wasn’t anything malicous, so don’t take it that way. I was expecting a cute picture.
It never occurred to me that anyone would be grossed out. I’m sorry. I’ve removed the photo.
The picture didn’t need a removal, just a warning that it’s an injured cat. I can take a lot worse than that, if it’s not a surprise. I really didn’t want you to take it like you did. Sorry again. I think were on good terms again.
Since there is no way to edit my earlier post which linked to the photo, removing the picture was the only thing I could think of to do. Posting a warning in a later post is kind of like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen. I honestly didn’t mean to offend anybody. I guess I work with so many damaged critters that my perception of the shock value of such a photo is altered.
I have to say, thank you for removing the photo of an injured kitten. I support people helping strays completely, but I have an extremely low threshold for pictures of abused or neglected animals. It just rips me up.