Gus is baaaack!!!

Patrick, thank you so much for sending the video!!! It's so good to see both of you again!!

Enjoy, gentle readers....


While you're at it, pop on over to Caroline's and take a gander at her two precious foster babies!!

And, please, if you haven't already, pass the word about Dora and Sassafras!!

Toasty Tuesday

Over 100 today and two days more predicted just like it. Here Bitty is taking advantage of the new, kitteh friendly, window sills... trying to get as much of the breeze on that floofy belly as possible!! Maybe we should all take a page from our kitteh's play book and slow down on these hot summer days!

And here's another shot of Dez, courtesy of Webbthistle. Wow! Will you look at those eyes!! Do you know someone who should get lost in those beautiful golden orbs? Every day? If so, direct them, here!

Over at the Little Pink Blog

New foster mom, Meg will satisfy even the most kitten hungry among us with her coverage of the Peanuts!! This may be one of the best documented foster litters ever!! 10 posts since Saturday, wow!

Blast from the Past

So, do you remember Gus and Patrick, the remarkable young man who adopted him? Well, Patrick sent along "The Eye of Gus," celebrating his buddy!

PSA Corner

FL area readers, Your Daily Cute's office kitteh is in need of a home, won't you stop by and meet her? My Bitty was an Institute office kitteh, so I've got a special place in my heart for Little Meow!

Signing off with Good News

Don't you love the good news of people working together to make a difference. Pop over to Robin's blog to check out the rescue of a lost, geriatric feline traveler.

A Gus Video, for our viewing pleasure!

Do you remember our Gus of the broken femur??


And do you remember Patrick, the remarkable young man who adopted him?


Well, Patrick sent us this video to show us just how well his best pal Gus is doing!!!

Thanks, Patrick! We needed that!! :-)

Too Much To Do Tuesday

Whew! Work is brutal right now and I'm sitting here wondering what in the heck to post since I've been really bad about taking videos and pics (and visiting) of late!

So, one reprint and some unpublished pics to the rescue!

Here's our Percy boy, and his siblings, at three days old. Can you believe the difference a few short months make?? I love going back over his baby pics!


Miss Aggie, the first month she was with us... two pounds and an inch smaller than she is now. And she's still a slender cat!


Peggy Sue lookin' for love. After so many months of being a bit hesitant, she's insatiable these days!


Another view of our Grumplegreykins! (He does get the best "Hurrumph" looks going!)


And, finally, Gus not doing a terrific job of hiding!

Can't wait for the Thanksgiving weekend and a chance to catch up and catch you up on us!

Gus discovers other attributes of the bean litterbox

OK, now let's really check out that weird shelf.

OMG! There's another cat up here! And a whole 'nother room!

Hello! Do I know you? ... Hello!.... You! HELLO!! Geeze... some guys are just rude!

Ummmm.... woman? Have you been holding out on me? Who's that other guy? I tried to introduce myself but he's not talking!

Look, dude, if you don't want to talk, that's OK. You just stay in your room and I'll stay in this one, right?

Now, what is all this junk? Hmmmm.... smells like the woman.

Do you really need all this garbage, lady? I like your regular smell better.

Oh, look! A custom fit! Why didn't you tell me about this before?

Yep, definitely made for me!

(Again, thanks for sharing, Mimi and Patrick!)

Gus & Tory discover is why beans spend so much time in the tiny room

So, what do you think is so interesting in here?
Dunno, what do you think?
Well, they go in and don't come out for a long time, so it must be something!

Well, this isn't very interesting.

Up there was a little more interesting but that can't be it.

Hey??? Where'd you go????

Ah, ha!! So this is why they spend so much time in here! They must be playing hide'n'seek!

(Thanks to Mimi and Patrick for the great shots!! And it's great to see Gus and new sister, Tory, getting along so well!)

Gus Hides

I'm super stealth cat. My hiding skills are legendary!

Gus v. The Spider

Patrick and Mimi sent us this clip so we could see how Gus is doing. That's Patrick at the controls of the Spider. From Gus's sidelong glances at Patrick, I think Gus may now suspect who he's really playing with! Mimi reports that the first time our floofy boy encountered the big bad creepy crawly he did a back flip! Now that I'd have loved to have on film!!

Wow, has Gus grown!! And that tail sure has grown along with him!! Thanks for sharing Patrick and Mimi!! They have some other stuff coming up for us, too!! :-)

Updates: Jasper & Kona, Ashton & Coleston, Angels, Gus and Grey

Colston & Ashton
Very good news - the adoption went through on Wednesday. Colston & Ashton have a wonderful new home!!

The sad news is that Melissa is taking this pretty hard. She loves these boys very much and it's been soooo difficult to make this move. The evening of the adoption she retired early. I suspect she needs a little time to come to terms with giving up her furbabes, even if it's for the health of her biped baby. Big hugs comin' to you from everyone at Space Paws, Melissa! We know you did the right thing and we know how hard it was to do! Thank you again, from Melissa and Space Paws, to everyone who passed the word about this very special adoption need! And a big thank you to Ashton's first mom for the referral!

Grey Sharonson
Sharon and I touched base today. Sweet Grey has an infection in one of his paws and Sharon has been treating him through her vet. He's coming along nicely (she's got him safely tucked in her basement), but we decided it was best to wait until Monday to transfer him to my house. I can't wait to greet our newest adoptee!!

The delay actually works out quite well (goes without saying that is other than the fact that Grey is hurt!!). Miss Peggy Sue is still recovering from her spay on Thursday and is still moving quite gingerly. We've got her in quarantine (the spare bedroom/den "suite") and I think she'd do well to have another day or so without having to deal with the General Population.

Do check out the comments on yesterday's post for more info from Grey's dad, Chris.

Jasper & Kona
New mom, Phyllis, sure is keeping us up to date on the goings on in DC!! Here's the latest set of pics from Kona & Jasper. Kind of self explanatory, actually!! They're getting along great! Lots of playing and Kona continues to marvel at kitten craziness! Turns out she thinks Jasper is actually quite delicious! Enjoy!

And, in Medical News

Monica and Sonia report they really liked Doc Andrew. They took lots of pics of the Angels first shots and will be sharing them with us, soon. Mimi picked up Gus today after his neuter and relates that's he's doing well. (Thank you, Doc Hess, for the no-cost spay and neuters you are providing for Space Paws!!). We expect Gus will be back to terrorising... errrr, playing with, Tory by tomorrow!

It's a Small World After All!

Still swamped at work, and there's a lot to tell you about, so this is a bit choppy! Year end closing is over on Thursday so more regular, and "together," posts will recommence this weekend... I hope!! :-)

The Small World That Brought Grey to Space Paws
Today I'll tell the round about story of how Mr. Grey came to Space Paws and tomorrow I'll start filling you in on his story!

A couple of weeks ago I got a message from a co-worker, Shireen, saying that a friend of hers, Sheryl (the wife of a former STScI staff member), had a friend in Baltimore who was trying to find a home for an adult cat. I thought, "Whew, that's a bit round about," but asked Shireen for her friend's contact info. Next thing I know, Sheryl contacted me and I saw that she works for NOAO!! NOAO and STScI are part of the same non-profit corporation (NOAO operates Kitt's Peak Observatory in Arizona). OK, a bit less seperation now!

Sheryl let me know that she would give my info to her friend in Baltimore. When I read the email, my jaw dropped! I KNOW Sheryl's friend, Sharon!! Five years ago, Sharon, who works for Johns Hopkins University, and I worked together to streamline the post-graduate billing between our institutions! Not only that, Johns Hopkins is STScI's landlord! Is it a small, small world or what????

So that's the story of how Space Paws came to be placing Mr. Grey Sharonson! Saturday, Sharon will be bringing Grey over to my place and he will be housed in the den/guest bedroom suite. Stay tuned for Grey's story, but to tide you over, here's a short clip from Sharon:


(Sharon has already sent several other clips, so we'll get to enjoy them over the next few days!)

Medical Updates
We've got a couple: Thursday is a big day! The Angels go to Doc Andrew for their first shots and Miss Peggy Sue goes to Doc Hess for her spay. And then, on Friday, Gus will see Doc Hess again for his neuter and I'll pick up Miss Peggy Sue!

Today's Jasper Update
10/6, 9:04 am
I left them out together [today] - they were having too much fun. They're playing a game that looks like tag, and sounds like the Calgary stampede. I feel a bit like I got Kona a really good toy ;)
Phyllis

Miss Aggie is Back in Circulation

Well, this is a "mixed" update. As you might remember, Aggie was scheduled to go to her adoptive home this fall. After we had made arrangements for a summer adoption, her prospective mom, Carrie Ann, was unexpectedly asked to board her sister's boyfriend's (SB) cat, Big Turkey, because SB's roommate wasn't treating the cat well. This being family and all, Carrie Ann said yes.

SB was to find a new place by fall. At first we thought September. Then we were looking at October when things moved more slowly than planned. You can guess the rest of the story... today Carrie Ann said that, while it wasn't 100% certain, she was now getting the distinct feeling her boarder was going to become a permanent resident since SB has not been making many moves toward relocating. In fact, at this point, for a lot of reasons, she doesn't think giving Big Turkey back is the best thing for the sweetie she's come to love.

So, the down side is that we need to find another home for Miss Aggie.

The upside (and there are several) is that Big Turkey will get a parent who really wants him (and a new name!) AND Miss Aggie is now much better socialized with other animals than she was a few months ago.

One of the reasons this had been a good match (and I was willing to wait) was that Carrie Ann, besides being a terrific gal, could only take one cat because she lives in an efficiency. At that point, Aggie loved people but did not mix well with other animals... a perfect only cat. But being around the General Population, Miss Peggy Sue and the kittens for a couple of months has mellowed Aggie to the point that I think she could mix in well with most households. Funny how a window opens when a door closes!

So instead of being disappointed, I believe we should celebrate Miss Aggie's new social skills and that Big Turkey has found a fantastic new mom!!

Updates, we have lots and lots of updates! Jasper, Gus and Colston & Ashton!

Updates are pouring in gang! Ashton and Colston, Gus and, of course, our little Jasper!

So sit back, relax and catch up on the alumni and, hopefully, soon-to-be alumni! (Oops, did I spill the beans??? OK, then, I'll make it up to you... there's a surprise at the end of the post!)

Colston and Ashton

Melissa brought us outstanding news today... she and her hubby had a successful meet'n'greet with a couple from Catonsville yesterday evening! These nice folks have a big old Victorian (with four, count them, four floors!) and plenty of room for their five kittehs plus these two wonderful boys. They were looking for an adult cat as one of their babes passed away not too long ago.

The adopting couple has lots of experience with introducing new members to their household and of meeting the challenges (and soaking in the pleasures!) of having older kittehs in their family.

Being responsible adopters, everyone is taking a step back to let the meet'n'greet sink in. Assuming everyone is still feeling good mid-week, they'll be meeting up again for an adoption! Melissa sends her thanks to everyone for the leads and links in our adventure to find the boys a wonderful home. This particular lead was from the breeder from whom they got Ashton, so Space Paws is sending a big, "Thank You" up to Pennsylvania to add to the one from Melissa's family!! Everybody, keep your fingers crossed.

Gus

We got mail! Yesterday Patrick left an update in the "Gus in his new home" post:

"Hey everyone it's Patrick. I just wanted to say thank you to Miss Lisa and my mom for letting me have such a wonderful kitty! I feel it's a great pleasure to have Gus. I think he's a keeper! Also I wanted to thank all the wonderful commenters. What you say truly touches my heart. Please don't worry! I will keep you all informed! I love taking pictures of Gus! Until I have a video camera I can't take [moving] pictures of him. I asked for one for my birthday. I will keep you informed."

And today Patrick's friend, Brian, wrote to us, too, saying, "Hi! My name is Brian and I am Patrick's friend. I want to thank you for giving him Gus. He seems to be enjoying his company very much and is having a lot of fun with him. I'm glad that many people pitched in to help Gus and I hope you get more videos of him on your website. Thank you, Brian"

What terrific young men our little Gus has as friends, eh??!

And our little Jasper

(Fred to those of you who may have missed a post or two!)

The updates started to come in right away from Doc Phyllis! Yesterday I posted the video she sent of Jasper settling in, and now, here's her narrative!

10/3, 7:27 pm

He's doing great :)

Kona has largely been ignoring Jasper's "room" and only a few minutes ago stared at the bathroom with a look on her face like "WHAT is in THERE?". Somehow I thought the meowing would have given it away. She's been behaving just like her normal self, chasing me around and sleeping in windows.

So I did a little shopping with my sister on her way out of town, and when I got back I went to sit with Jasper for a little while. You should have seen me IN the bathtub, reading my book, while he napped on me for a few minutes at a time. Did I mention it'll be nice when the quarantine is over? ;) No more meowing, he's been sleeping in his bed, and ate all the food I left in his bowl, about 1/4 cup. I gave him some more, and he tucked in.

Just wanted to let you know that we're all doing well :)

10/4, 8:05pm

Opened the door an inch and there's been more growling and hissing and then Kona goes about her business. But she keeps coming back to the door to check on him ;) Perhaps a thaw?
Loved the post, Joanna did too!
A few pics from today...

[And is this foot in the face shot too much, or what??? L]


10/5, 2:14 pm

I think I'm going to try to introduce them tonight (I propped the door open an inch, and there was hissing and some growling but no violence, and Jasper was the portrait of innocence). I'd really like my bathroom back, and I feel for the little guy...

10/5, 6:33 pm, Subject: Unleashed the Beast!

So after yesterday's one inch encounter went ok, I came home from work and let Jasper out into general population. He's very zen, Kona is a combination of fascinated, horrified, scared and confused. If he gets too close she'll growl a bit, if he surprises her she'll hiss a bit, but mostly he wanders around exploring and trying every now and then to get close to her, and she follows him around, watching him like he's the season finale of Dancing with the Stars (that's the fascination and horror together).

No violence, thank heavens. He's drunk her water, played with her toys and used her litter box. Mostly she stares at him as if she can't believe her eyes.

My internet seems to be on vacation (it does this now and then) so I'm typing on my Blackberry. But I had to share. Who knows what the rest of the evening will hold!

I'm trying to be very supportive of Kona, and trying to keep Jasper at a bit of a distance. But we're moving forward!!!

10/5, 7:28 pm
The fascination continues - a hiss from Jasper too, they've almost touched, Kona's growling...but they're sitting quietly here - I think Jasper's purring.

Doc Phyllis, thanks sooo much for the frequent (and fun!) updates! We're all looking forward to the next report!

And here's the surprise!

Someone wants to meet us!! Get ready - more tomorrow!!

[Postscript: To all our blogging friends... it's our busy season at work - year end close - and time is sooo short right now. I can't wait to catch up with you all... please don't think I've forgotten you... I miss you all! Hugs, Lisa]

Gus in his new home!

Sorry about the sporadic posting, gang! It's our busy season at work and I've been coming home totally pooped. But let me tell you, this little number perked me right up!!
Enjoy!
Lisa

(Thanks soooo much, Patrick and Mimi!!!)

We've been LOLed! ... Colston & Ashton Need A Home ... Patrick's first video of Gus ... New Widgit

We have lots of things going on today!

I've been asked why I seem to be combining items in one post when I could do several posts in one day. Well... it's because I'm afraid our gentle readers will pull a "me." That is, I catch the last item posted for a day and miss the previous ones! And given the stats on post reading, that seems to be true. So lately, I've just been "headlining" the different topics of conversation in one post. Hope you don't mind!


We've been LOLed!

A while back, Amy (of the House of Cats) wrote to Wendy, an LOL creator extraordinaire, and told her that she thought Space Paws was a good bet for her tender ministrations. Wendy kindly wrote to us and, yesterday, she posted the first installment of Space Paws a la Cheezburger! So I guess this makes these Wendy's Cheezburgers! (I know, big groan, especially from Wendy!) A second installment just went up, so check out both the 9/15 & 9/16 posts if you haven't been there yet!

Wendy features Gus prominently in her LOLs. Here's an example:

So head on over to Wendy's blog and check them out! You'll also get a chance to see really clever do ups of other folks blogs, including our own gentle readers Amy and Marlene (and maybe others I don't know about yet??!). Brian, who came over to join us just yesterday (welcome, Brian!), is featured before our post. Thanks Wendy! Great job!


Colston & Ashton Need A Home Together, ASAP

Meet Colston and Ashton, the beloved fur babies of one of our staff. I'll let Melissa tell you her story, in her own words:

I have two Norwegian Forest Cats, both neutered males, ages 12 and 6 years old. I love them and they are my feline children. However, my young son, Alexander is highly allergic to the cats. At first we thought he was allergic to many things, just like me, and therefore taking medicine was inevitable, but alas, he is not. He is only allergic to cats and dogs. So for a 4 year old to be taking 4 medicines, just so he can breath, to allow me to keep my cats does not seem to make sense. It has been hard for me accept this situation, but as a mother I have to protect my son's health.

Melissa is in the horrible position of having to choose between the love of her fur babies and the health of her biped baby. After a lot of thought and prayer, she is going to try to place her boys together in a good furever home.

Tomorrow I'm going to devote the entire post to these handsome boys (and you'll learn they're not just handsome on the outside!). So spread the word, folks, especially if you live in Maryland! And join us tomorrow. Let's try to find a wonderful new furever family for these boys... hopefully one who will grant liberal visitation rights to his adoring first mom!


Patrick's First Video Of Gus
When Gus started exploring his new home, I offered the camera to Patrick. As you'll soon see, he took to videography like a duck to water. Just a little more practice and this young man will be keeping us up to date on Gus' goings on like a pro!

Mimi reports that yesterday, Patrick insisted on coming home before judo lessons (they usually scoot straight there from school), just to be sure Gus was OK! Grandad reports that Miss Tory is not too pleased about the new smells in the house. He's been allowing Gus to roam when Tory is sequestered and vice versa. Tonight, they're going to let them meet each other, with Gus safely in a carrier and Tory getting tons of love and attention. Keep your fingers crossed!


And finally, what do you think of the new Widget?
You may have noticed the new LinkWithin at the bottom of the posts. This is a third party widget I first saw over at The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. After a few days of happily following the LinkWithin suggestions on Laurie's blog, I thought why not try it here, too. Let me know what you think!

Meeting Gus Video, Meet the Family and an Unexpected Gift!!

Over the next couple of days, we'll share Gus' adoption visit with you. Yep, we took several videos (including two by Patrick) and snap shots. Also, Patrick has said he'll take pics and may even post to the blog himself, to let us know what's up with Gus!

Oh, and stay tuned, this coming weekend, we go to visit Abigail's Angels again!!

But back to Gus & Patrick. First, let's Meet Gus's New Family!


Patrick shows us a picture of Tory, who also lives with Patrick and Mimi. Tory and Gus will get to meet each other gradually, over the next couple of days. That distinguished gent in the background is Patrick's granddad!


This is Mimi, Patrick's Mom, my friend, and bald faced liar. More about that later.


Patrick, Mimi and Gus, having a ball.

Before I left, Gus had given Patrick one of his trademark hugs and kisses! I was hoping that would happen!

Mimi reports that, later, Gus and Patrick cuddled up on the floor of Patrick's room for a good while with Gus purring louder than an Evinrude. Finally she shooed Patrick to bed. Patrick has a bunk/desk combo so he's not allowed to take Gus up to bed with him. When Gus can jump up, he can go up. And, this morning Gus came bounding out of Patrick's room to say hello, purring up a storm. Is our little Gus happy in his new home? I think so!!

Next, the Video of Patrick's first meeting with Gus.

When Mimi and I plotted Patrick's surprise, Mimi insisted on doing the camera work. She's the mom, so I said OK and asked that she shoot around me. She said, "Of course!"

She lied.

So Patrick did not know he was being filmed at first and I didn't know at all (figured some hands, etc., but that's all). Had I known I was about to be digitally immortalized, I would have refused. (Probably why Mimi lied.) Or at least, say, put on make up, done my hair and sucked in my gut for the occasion. And Patrick would probably have tried to maintain a shred of his 11 year old composure. As it was, we didn't!! LOL! After extensive consultation with our Space Paws buddies at work, your corpulent author has decided to let you see the real us, since it was an awesome day!



(Oh, and don't worry about Gus' leg... he was stiff from the ride. You'll see him running and jumping in videos shot only an hour or so later! Tune in tomorrow!)

Mimi had told Patrick, early on, that they couldn't adopt Gus, which Patrick accepted with good grace. After Patrick offered up his allowance for Gus' care, she reconsidered but chose not to tell him. Even when he was very disappointed to read that Gus had been adopted (guess he was still holding out some hope), she simply said that Gus had been adopted by a good family, omitting the fact that it was theirs.

Hmmmm, Mimi, this fibbing business is getting to be a habit, eh?? ;-) Worry, woman! Patrick and I have very long memories and we are diabolically creative. You won't know where, you won't know when...

And finally, the Unexpected Gift.

Our gentle readers have come such a long way with Gus and us, in such a short time. We want to thank you again for all your support and generosity! I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we are humbled and you guys rock!!

I want to let you know that the rest of Gus' costs have been covered by my late Aunt Bert via my sis! Over the weekend, Lori handed me a check that more than covers Gus' remaining bills. There is a tremendous amount of work involved in wrapping up a loved ones affairs and I had expected Lori to keep anything that was left, but she said no, this was for the kittehs!

What did I tell you? I'm humbled! The kitteh blog community, my co-workers, my sister... unbelievably awesome!!

Well, she said Gus had a good home, she just didn't say it was yours...

Words aren't really necessary, now are they?? :-) Those two boys are going to be a wonderful pair!!

Yes, Gus has a new home with Mimi and Patrick! You may recall that early in Gus' story, a certain young man insisted that a couple of weeks of his allowance go to help Gus get better. But wait! There's more!! And I'll tell you all about it tomorrow. :-)

Gus' arrival was a complete surprise to Patrick. How you held onto it so long, Mimi, I'll never know! That last picture is Patrick looking up at Mimi and saying, "Thank you, Mom!!!" (Yep, she had the camera.)

We had a blast tonight and it's late, but I wanted to get this post up, quickly, to let you know the good news! Lotsa details, video and more pics tomorrow!