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Squeeky
 Squeeky
is our senior kitty, at 19 years of age. She also answers to her
nicknames "gorgeous girl", "snugglepuss", and
"angel kitty". Squeeky arrived at our doorstep at 4
AM on a frigid January night (minus 30 degrees celcius - that's
ridiculously cold!) all the way back in 1991. Her ears were on the
verge of frost bite - we took her in just in time. Her super-sweet
and gentle disposition melted out hearts immediately and she
instantly became one of the family - and of course has been a very
happy indoor kitty ever since. Squeeky is the most well behaved
cat we have ever known. She is incredibly obedient and has always
followed all our house rules to a "T". No furniture
scratching, no jumping on counter tops - a real little lady. She is
also highly intelligent and has always been a real chatterbox. She is
very affectionate and until the last year had a playful bratty
streak, but at age 19 she's taking things easy now. She's always been
highly attached to her humans. Squeeky was the only cat in the family
until age 17, at which point we added 6 (yes, 6) more within just one
year. She's adapted to sharing her home with a bunch of crazies very
well - we're very proud of our senior girl.
Squeeky had feline
diabetes for a short time a few years ago, and we are so fortunate
that it was reversed. She also struggled with chronic esophagitis
over the last year, a complication of anesthesia during dental
surgery. But her recent vet check showed this 19 year old to be
in otherwise excellent health
See our article
about how we are treating Squeeky's cat
arthritis.
Treenie
 Our
super-tiny little sweetie. Next to Squeeky, Treenie is our Second in
Command". Treenie was rescued by us from a very large tree in
which she had been stuck, unable to come down, for hours on a
beautiful hot August evening in 2008. Just 6 months old, she was far
too high up for us to get to ourselves, so we had to enlist the help
of our local Fire Department. After much arm-twisting (since it is
actually against Fire Department policy to assist in these types of
rescues apparently for liability reasons), they showed up with their
big red fire engine and hydraulic ladder. Turns out they were all a
bunch of animals lovers and couldn't turn their backs on our pleas to
help this little girl, so they went against policy. We took her home
and tried to find her family, to no avail. After having her scanned
by our vet to see if she had microchip to identify her owner,
Treenie became ours. Due to some of her habits, we suspect this tiny
little girl may have been fending for herself on the street before
she crossed our path. To this day, she remains extremely small,
probably due to lack of nutrition under the age of 6 months. When she
came into our life, Treenie brought a lot of laughter and love into
our home when it was really needed. We think of her and our Squeeky
as a couple of little angels who were sent directly to us. They are
both very special girls. Treenie's
Photo Album
George
 Georgie
joined us on December 4, 2008 at six months of age. Treenie, also 6 months,
needed a buddy her own age to romp around with. She was full of beans
and looking for constant play, and our senior girl Squeeky was not
amused by Treenie's attempts to engage her. After visiting the
no-kill shelters in our area and finding several awesome kitties we
would have loved to adopt, we decided to check our local Humane
Society since they were euthanizing cats in horrifically high numbers
at that time due to overcrowding. We wanted to save a life. Georgie
was our guy. This little silver-grey tabby is a real character. He
knows how to dance on his hind-legs and twirl around, (especially if
there's corned beef involved) which is very, very cute. In addition
to being a fun-loving little kook, he's a very sweet, well behaved,
refined little guy who is always good for a laugh or a cuddle. He was
named George by the Humane Society and it stuck. But since he likes
to hang out with us in the kitchen when there's work to be done and
keep us company we nick-named him "Emeril" (after celebrity
chef Emeril Lagasse). AKA "the kitchen buddy".
Ringo
 Ringo
is George's brother. So here's how it happened. We walked into the
Humane Society to adopt a cat - we came out with three.
As mentioned, the Humane Society was euthanizing high numbers of cats
at the time, and the thought of adopting George but leaving his
brother Ringo behind broke our hearts. They were the last two cats
remaining of their littler, and the thought of separatng them was bad
enough, but if we didnt take Ringo, they would have put him down. He
was suffering his third round of a chronic upper respiratory
infection at the time and with the overcrowding problem, the Humane
Society would not continue to treat him for the condition. If we
hadnt adopted him that Sunday, he would have been euthanized later
that week. So now he's ours. We initially took him strictly as a pity
case, but Ringo has turned out to be is an admirable little man - our
highly affectionate little "tiger". We call him "wild
man Ringo" because of the extreme vigor with which he can play.
A sickly, scrawny little guy when we brought him home, today he is
rock solid and strong on the outside - but so soft and gentle
on the inside. He loves to chew things - like the rod-iron legs of
our kitchen table, or say, the edge of a computer. But he's
always the little gentleman. Well behaved and (mostly) well mannered
(except for when he muscles into his buddies food bowls). He'll let
you know when he's in urgent need of a cuddle by standing on his hind
legs and reaching up to be held. It feels great to know we literally
saved this little guy's life. Ringo's
Photo Album
Boo-Boo
 At
just 2 weeks of age, BooBoo was found downtown on one of the busiest
streets in the city, alone with just one other sibling, and turned
over to the Humane Society. He arrived at our home with George and
Ringo. They had all been roommates together at the Humane Society.
Also just 6 months old when we adopted him, he was quiet and
withdrawn throughout much of our visit at the Humane Society, but as
we prepared to leave, he sprang to life, suddenly craving attention
and playtime. It was like he was calling out to us to take him too.
How do you turn your back on that, especially when you know you can
find room in your home? Once at home, Boo-Boo soon proved to be utterly incorrigible.
If there was something he wasn't allowed to do, he did it - over,
and over, and over again. He would not take direction (hence the name
"Boo-Boo" - as in "we've made a Boo-Boo"). But we
stuck by him, as much as he tried our patience - because that's what
you do when you've adopted a pet, you make a committment to them. In
the end our perserverance was worth it. A year later, after
consistent trainingand guidance, Boo Boo is a real little gentleman
who keeps his nose out of trouble (mostly) and has learned to
overcome all his bad habits (mostly). Originally resistant to being
cuddled or held, Boo-Boo will now happily accept that type of
attention and likes to be affectionate. He's turned into a great
little companion. We put in the effort with Boo-Boo and stood by him,
and it paid off. Its rewarding to see how far he's come. We're proud
of him. Pictures
of Boo
Lambert
Lambert is the
last of our shelter adoptees to arrive. A big cuddly teddy-bear, he
joined us in October 2009. He first caught our eye in Febraruy of
2009 at Darcy's No-Kill Shelter - the largest no-kill shelter in all
of Western Canada, truly an awesome place. As far as shelter's go, it
doesnt get any better than this one. The staff truly love the cats
and work tierlessly to give them the best care and comfort
while trying to find them homes. But it is still a shelter, not a
home environment with a family, and Lambert knew it. This poor guy
was in the shelter for over a year and a half, and he was very
depressed. He suffered from anxiety so severe upon his arrival
at the shelter that he was pulling his fur out, and now has a
permanent bald patch on his neck as a result. Our home was getting
quite full, but every time we saw his face and looked into his deep
eyes, he pulled at our hearts. How could this lovely cat be passed by
for so long? We kept telling ourselves that if he was still in the
shelter by the end of the summer, we'd know it was meant to be and
we'd adopt him. Long story short - he was still in the shelter
at the end of the summer. We took him home in early October and he
fit right in immediately, becoming fast friends and great buddies
with our other guys. What's really wonderful is that within 48 hours
of intergrating into our home, Lambert underwent an entire
personality change. He literally sprang to life. He became extremely
playful and the depression he'd always exhibited in the shelter
completely lifted. All he wanted was to be part of a loving family.
In the shelter he had given up on life. He would simply sleep all the
time and wouldn't even get up if someone came in the room to visit.
He showed no interest in anything. Now Lambert is always looking for
a good time. This fun-loving guy is constantly dragging a toy through
the house, and is always ready for a little action. But Lambert also
has a deeply senstive side. Interestingly, he has an incredible
ability to know when someone is in need of comfort - whether they are
humans or cats. He will gravitate toward any person who is feeling
depressed and will crawl into their lap to console them. If one of
the other cats is feeling ill or is sulking because they have been
scolded, he will insticntlively go to them and protectively cuddle up
to them. Lambert is a cat with a special gift. We call him Lammie for
short, which is actually quite fitting because he sounds just like a
little lamb when he meows.
 Frosty
Frosty was not
"planned". He showed up in our yard, pleading for
help in early December 2009, the day the weather really started
turning frosty-cold. He'd been hanging around peering into our window
for weeks but we didn't realize he was homeless; we thought he was
just a neighbourhood cat looking to make friends with our cats. But
as the north wind brought the first really cold weather on the first
Friday in December, this little guy knew it was time to get help and
he knew how to ask for it. (He also apparently knew how to pick the
right people!). After enlisting the help of the Humane Society to try
to track down Frosty's family, we learned he was at least 5 years
old. Nearly 2 months prior, his owner had moved to a place that
didn't allow pets so she left him with somene she hoped would care
for him. Apparently they did not. He had been living on the street
for 6 solid weeks - almost the entire time since his owner had left.
The story goes that one day he just never came back. However, nobody
bothered to look for him. No signs posted in the neighbourhood. No
"lost" report filed with the Humane Society. And so it
was that he came to be ours. We kept him and promised him he'd never
know what it is like to be homeless, unloved, abandoned or unwanted
again. Frosty was very depressed and withdrawn his first couple
months with us. No matter how welcome, safe and secure we tried to
make him feel, he just seemed so sad and kept to himself. We suspect
he deeply missed his original owner and was very confused by her
sudden departure from his life. He wanted his person back. We finally
got to see Frosty's true personality when eventually the depression
lifted after a couple months. He has finally adjusted to his new home
and moved on with his new life with us. He's a gleeful little guy who
likes to frolic and play. If he gets hungry and we're not around to
fill his food bowl for a while, he'll topple the garbage over
and rumage for a snack - not something we're crazy about, but we
understand that its no doubt how he used to survive when living on
the street. Just before Frosty showed up, we had decided we could
make room for one more cat in our home - we were going to treat
ourselves to the joy of a little girl kitten for Christmas. Then came
Frosty and there went the plan to adopt a little kitten. We couldn't
turn our back on him.
We've
met so many wonderful cats when visiting animal shelters. We would
have loved to adopt them all. We often think of the ones left behind.
Our cats add an additional layer of richeness to our lives that just
wouldnt be there without them. If you are a cat-lover and can find
room in your home for another cat, please consider rescuing someone
from a shelter. The cat over population problem is tragic, with
astonishing numbers of these precious animals being put to sleep
every day simply because they have no home. They die alone, afraid,
confused, anxious, and unloved. Adopting
a cat from a no-kill shelter makes a space for the shelter to take
in someone else.
We
here at Angels4Animals dream of the day when no more cats have to
die because humans have let them down - a day when feline euthanasia
due to overpopulation is a thing of the past. Until that day comes,
its up to cat lovers everywhere to do what they can to open their
hearts and homes to make room for even just one more cat in their lives.
If every responsbile cat lover were to adopt just one more cat,
think of all the lives that would ultimately be saved.
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