Dear MEOW Cat Rescue,

It has been over 4 months since Zizi came home with me and she is doing very well. At first I had some concerns with her behavior as she would frequently move into a defensive posture when approached and would sometimes try to bite me when I attempted to pet her. But over the months Zizi has become a lot more trusting. She is still quite high-strung and still likes to hide under the bed a lot, but I’ve decided that if that’s what she wants to do and it makes her happy it’s just fine. She is expanding her comfort zone too though, and spends more and more time in other parts of the house. For example it took many weeks before she started to tentatively explore the first floor of the house and now she comes downstairs often and likes to look out the windows to the back garden. She loves to be petted and most nights she sleeps peacefully by my side; she likes to snuggle up close.

Here is a note from Zizi herself:

I love it here! There are lots of places to explore and places to hide. Here I am in one of the cat trees – I like to lay in the half tube. Every evening we have Zizi’s Special Playtime! Mom calls me and I come running into my room where first I get brushed which I love (I have not had a hairball since I started getting brushed every day!) and then sometimes we warm up with Grab-The-Sock but usually I just want to play my most favorite game Mouse-Tail. Here is a picture of me with my most favorite camo mouse. Sometimes the other cats want to play too but mom makes them leave the room and shuts the door; she knows I get nervous and can’t play with the others watching. She says it’s my special time because I’m special and I like that.

I have an admirer! The tomcat who lives here brings me mice. But I play hard to get. In this photo he just brought me two mice!

Thanks for taking care of me for so long! I know you took good care of me for a long time before I found my forever home.

Love Zizi

We adopted Blue Bell (1-1/2 year old) on February 10 and Clover (3-1/2 months) on the 22nd. It didn’t take long for them to become quite attached. So much so, they sleep with each other and not with us! That’s OK. They’re so fun to have around.

We got Kudos in 2010. He was brand new to MEOW when we came in – he had been found in an industrial park in Kirkland and was pretty scrawny and had a sneezy, runny nose cold. We met with him in a visiting room and he stole our hearts by shedding a whisker before our eyes and licking me (Laura) on the nose within moments of our meeting. Over two years later, Kudos is happy, healthy, and an absolute joy to have around. You can probably tell by the picture that he has made himself awfully comfortable in our life! Thank you for taking such good care of Kudos until he found his home with us!
Sincerely,
Andrew and Laura

I wanted to give you an update on Cupcake (now Lunchbox). I remember you said she was 24 or 25 pounds when she came to the shelter. Lunchy’s now at a sleek healthy weight. She’s on a home-made grain-free diet, which along with slimming her down, has eliminated some other health issues. We’re still mourning the recent loss of her older “sister”, but otherwise she’s a happy healthy girl.She’s the ultimate lap cat. She snuggles and chats. She growls at her stuffed rats when she plays with them, which is hysterical. First time she did it, I thought it was the neighbor’s dog. I had no idea cats could growl, lol. And she throws them….WAY up the air. So I find stuffed rats in the weirdest places. She’s a wonderful cat. Thanks so much for keeping my Lunchy safe until she made her way here. –Coleen

Hello Meow,

I’ve been meaning to send you an update on Punkin, now Ebony (Ebby), who came home with me back in August. She has settled in quite nicely and become very good friends with Ink, her new big brother. In true little sister fashion, she wants to be wherever he is; on the bed, on top of the armoire, at the food dish, on my lap. Ink just rolls with it. They enjoy chasing each other around the house. She also enjoys hunting socks, fortunately not while they are in use. She brings her prey out to the living room so that we can all admire what a fine hunter she is. When she is finally tuckered out, she can be found stretched out on the armoire or curled up on the back of a chair by the front window. From that vantage point, she can keep an eye on the birds outside, the doings in the street, as well as who comes in the front door. The perfect spot!

Ebby was brought to Meow with her new litter of kittens that included Sprite. We hope that all of her kittens have been settled as happily as she has. When I read the article about Sprite, all I could think about was how much like his mother he sounds; the energy, the attentiveness, the big purr that doesn’t seem possible from such a little creature.

Thank you for all that you do for these cats, giving them a safe place to land before the next chapter of their lives begins.
Suzanne

When we were looking for a new cat companion in Seattle I went through over 400 online pet descriptions before we made our choice. We went to the shelter and found out that the cat we wanted (after sitting in the shelter for 6 months) was adopted 15 minutes before we got there. My wife cried. I nearly cried. It was very stressful. I decided that I wanted to minimize shelter stress in the future, so after going through all the photos again, we made our second choice (which turned out to be Benjamin Black at MEOW). This time I did my homework – I downloaded the forms, had the exact cost of the adoption in my pocket, made arrangements to get to MEOW exactly at opening time, and called the night before just prior to the shelter closing to make sure that Benjamin Black was still available. I also memorized what the cat looked like (it was pretty easy, he had a distinctive bent ear).

The next morning I arrived in the shelter parking lot right as the doors opened. I marched in and laid my adoption papers on the counter.”

May I help you?” said the very nice, but still somewhat groggy volunteer behind the counter.
“Yes,” I said, trying to ignore all the piteous “take me home” meows seemingly coming from everywhere, “I would like to adopt a cat.” I slid the paperwork across the counter.”
OK, good” said the volunteer, eyeing the paperwork a bit blearily. “We have lots of wonderful….”
“I want to adopt Benjamin Black,” I said, tapping the name of the cat on the paperwork. I had my courage up now, and glanced around, locating Benjamin in one of the nearby cages.”
All right,” said the volunteer, “let me see if he is still avail….”
“He’s right there,” I said, pointing, “in that cage.”
“Oh.” Said the volunteer. There was a pause. The volunteer looked from me to the cat and back again. “Don’t you even want to take him into the visitation room?” the volunteer finally asked.

At this point I realized that I was probably coming off as some sort of mad vivisectionist.

“Oh.” I said. “OK. Sure.”

I went into the visitation room and sat down. The volunteer brought in Benjamin. Now Benjamin had been abused and neglected and dumped and rescued and had sat in a shelter for a long time and then been adopted and terrorized by dogs and brought back. Benjamin was an emotional wreck. Consequently Benjamin immediately ran to the corner furthest away from me and huddled there, making cat screamy noises. Benjamin had a very loud voice when he tried. But at least it drowned out all the other cats. I sat there with Benjamin for five minutes. Occasionally I noticed the volunteer looking concerned in my direction. After five minutes I figured I had done my duty, exited the visitation room, walked up to the counter and said “I’ll take him.”

The volunteer looked at me as though he were now SURE I was a mad vivisectionist. But another staff member had now arrived, and we got through the paperwork, got Benjamin in a cat carrier, and I took him out to the car. I tried to call my wife to let her know that I was on the way home with the cat, but she couldn’t hear me over the sound of the cat screamy noises Benjamin was making.

Benjamin lived with us for many years. He eventually got over his fear of people and would sleep curled up on the bed with us. He loved to be petted and brushed. We nursed him through a year’s worth of illness and he died comfortably in his forever home.

But I think that volunteer must still have terrible memories of me.

Hello,
I adopted RayJay back in July, he now goes by his new name Spencer T. Schwartzenegger. He’s a rock! Spence is a great guy, very lovable and playful. He’s got a huge selection of toys scattered around the house. He’s an indoor cat now. I think he spent the first part of his life living outside, he seems to be adapting to it fine.

When I lay on the couch, he likes to lay right on my legs, and look at me. His favorite spots in the house are near the gas stove, and looking out the kitchen window at birds. He has a nice outdoor enclosure, which he DID NOT like being in..so we put that away for the winter. We’ve started practicing walking on a leash, in a harness, so he can go out on the patio with me. It’s still a work in process..but he’s doing well! It has been quite an adjustment going from a 22 year old best friend to a 2 year old youngster, but I don’t regret bringing him home. He does his best to win my heart, and has succeeded! It’s a definite de-stresser after work to spend time playing with him..he hilarious!

Thanks again everyone at Meow for rescuing Spence, and for helping me to find him. Keep up the fantastic work you do!  -Patty

Greetings MEOW —

I met Latte on my first volunteer shift at the shelter: she was in a cubby in the front free-roaming room and had just woken up but couldn’t open one eye, so I had this shy coffee-coloured cat winking a blue-grey eye at me all morning! It was a memorable first-impression.

I have a soft spot for all the senior cats in MEOW’s front free-roaming room but we kept a tab on Latte in particular, and she joined our little family a couple of months ago. She’s not so shy any more but still very polite — she’s a bit of a chatterbox and meows back when she’s called, she doesn’t jump up onto furniture or people unless invited, she has excellent scratching and litter box manners, and she loves being brushed. Latte is a champion snuggler and she’d rather be on someone’s lap or nestled tightly next to someone than playing with toys. Needless to say, we’re smitten with Latte…. look at that little face! Can you tell she’s 9 years young? We love Latte’s senior cat friends at MEOW and keep our fingers crossed that people will come in, fall in love with them and take them home!

Thanks MEOW for matching us up with the sweetest cat! We wake up earlier these days so that we can enjoy a little Latte with our morning coffee. 🙂

I just wanted to let everyone know that Horatio is settling in very well and I’m very happy that I adopted him. He has the run of the house but wants to be with me and seems to understand that he’s finally fallen into clover. Heck, he even has his own bathroom (box is in the tub). Horatio has all the play habits of the typical male cat, which as warned does include a little mouthy/biting but he’s very gentle and has never broken the skin. He’s still a little spooky when anyone comes into the house – including me – but once he finds out who it is he’ll reappear. He’s easily startled by loud noises or male voices, but has made friends with my cat-babysitter neighbor and my trainer.

My purring lap blanket and I are very happy together.

Thank you! -Val & Horatio

Hi to everyone and every feline at MEOW Cat Rescue!

SiAm is my name now, but you may remember me as Footloose. My family named me SiAm after both Siamese cats in the Lady and the Tramp movie because they think I have enough personality and energy for two cats! I have explored every nook and cranny in my new home – even found a couple of hiding places my family didn’t know existed. My new feline housemate is Myki – he’s 5 and, though were slowly introduced over several weeks, when we finally got together, he still screamed and snarled and wanted to fight. Such a fuss – even the neighbors could hear him! But my family stayed calm and gave us both a lot of attention. Now, five weeks later, we get along much better and even sleep close together sometimes. I think I am helping him lose some weight by chasing him around. I love eating and playing almost as much as I love getting attention and being petted. I like to talk A LOT and follow my family around all the time – just in case they need my help. Well, I think they ALWAYS need my help, though sometimes they don’t seem to realize it. I also like to look down on what is happening, so I climb to the top of EVERYTHING. Sometimes pictures or plants get in my way, and then my family gets exercise by cleaning up after me. But, they learn and move things so I won’t knock them down again. I am very good at understanding and minding my family when they say “no”. But my rule – and Myki’s — is that “no” only applies when someone is looking. I think all cats use that rule, don’t you? My favorite bed is on top of the tallest bookcase, so my family put a soft bed up there for me. My family makes quite a fuss over me! They take pictures, tell me how cute I am (I agree with that!). They tell me they want me to stay here forever – so I’m sending you these pictures so you can see how big I’m growing. My family and I THANK YOU SO MUCH for all you did for me!

Love and meows,

SiAm