From the sounds of it you’d think we are an epic fail at fostering because we have 7 inside cats. That’s right, SEVEN. And I often look around and think “OMG we have LOST our minds”
Herbie was my cat when my husband and I met. My husband was not a cat lover to begin with. He had no experience with cats and assumed they were ignorant. Once he met Herbie and spent time with him, he realized cats are cool. Before we moved in together we adopted Lucky. Husband decided he wanted his OWN cat, so we got Luck. Lucky was 7 months old when we got him, technically a kitten but not SMALL. After a few months husband wanted a ‘tea cup’ kitten. Not the breed, but the size. He’d seen those cute pictures of kittens in a tea cup and started obsessing about adopting a tiny kitten. I eventually caved and we got Ernie.
Ernie is no longer with us, he had health problems. It’s hard for me to talk about Ernie because he was a very special cat and he and I formed a special bond. I was responsible for all of Ernie’s medical care and we went through a lot together. No matter what happened he seemed to always know that I was doing it to help him. He never complained in the car on the way to the vet. And after it was all said and done he’d curl up on my lap as if to say thank you. I can put my head on my pillow every night knowing I did EVERYTHING I could for him. When I knew he was getting sicker I would lay awake at night thinking about the dreaded day and if I had the strength to hold him when it was time. I knew I owed it to him and that it had to be me. It was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but it was the right thing to do. We’re very fortunate that our vet is also a good friend. She loved Ernie as much as we did so when she told me it was time I knew we had exhausted all options. She always told me that if he had another owner he probably would have been euthanized.
We started fostering after we adopted Ernie and we did great. We fostered for a year before we got ‘stuck’ and ended up keeping two. We brought a mom and 4 kittens home. We took mom out of the carrier. Then we started shaking kittens out of the other carrier. Hurley was the last one out, before his little paws hit the floor husband said “OH MY GOD he’s a keeper” He was a softball. We laughed and laughed, I’ve never seen such a round kitten before. Hurley’s main focus in life is food. I have pictures of him as a kitten with wet food all over his head because he’d just mash his face into the bowl. Hurley’s brother Jack was the smallest kitten we’ve ever fostered. Everyone else was just under a pound, Hurley was 16 ounces. Jack was 8 ounces. If you think about that, he was the size of a small block of cheese. When you foster they warn you about “failure to thrive syndrome” and I was petrified Jack was going to be our first loss. I spent a lot of time making sure Jack ate since Hurley would eat his portion and then push everyone else out of the way. I fed Jack separately to make sure he got enough. He’s still small, he reminds me of a greyhound or a whippet. Jack and Hurley had two sisters who got adopted together. We were at the shelter cleaning and heard a woman asking about one of our last fosters. He had been adopted that day so she decided to look around. We of course jumped at the opportunity to match her with the girls. She was only interested in adopting one kitten but in the end she took them both. She kept in touch with me and sent me pictures and it’s obvious they have a wonderful home. Anyway, that left Jack all alone. I cried big crocodile tears over the thought of Jack living somewhere else. What if they let him out? What if he got hurt? We had already agreed to take Hurley and we had THREE other cats but I couldn’t let go of Jack. So we came up with an idea. We would let him go up for adoption on Saturday, if at the end of the day he was still there we’d take him. I was at the shelter right at 5, when adoptions ended. He was still there, I was SO relieved. The rest is history.
We had a few more litters and we got ‘stuck’ again. The reason we have Pippi is because she’s got a screw loose. She’s a tortie so that explains some of issues. Everyone got adopted but her. They tried to put her in a cage with another kitten so she wouldn’t be alone. She tormented that poor kitten and drove the staff crazy with all her growling and hissing and constant meowing. She liked us so the shelter manager at the time asked if we would just TAKE her if they caught her up on all her shots. Pippi is from a litter of 5, we had her mom for a bit too. Her mom was great, her siblings were all normal. If she hadn’t spent 98% of her life with us I’d think she had a rough upbringing. She just has a screw loose. I still remember sitting on the floor in the bathroom with her right after we brought the whole batch home. She was annoying and I told her she was the first ignorant kitten I’d ever met.
We call her Poopie because she dumps next to the box when she’s mad. Sometimes it’s because it’s not quite clean enough for her standards, but mostly it’s out of spite. People say cats don’t have complex thoughts like that, but trust me on this. Pippi absolutely craps next to the box on purpose. She growls when you pick her up and she’s moody, she kicks things off counters and bookshelves or our night stands. She used to torture Ernie and he never fought back. Now she’s getting karma pay back…Squirt & Winston gang up on her. I actually feel sorry for her sometimes.
After we adopted Poopie I started working at the shelter. About 2 weeks before I started someone dumped a kitten off at the front door in a cardboard box. That kitten had a broken leg, he sat in the cardboard box all night in the cold. He was sent to the vet and then to foster care so he could recover. His foster mom told me that he stuck his leg through the holes in the door of carrier and managed to pull his cast off. After Squirt’s leg healed he was moved up for adoption. The vet didn’t know if his leg would require surgery as he grew so his adoption profile included a disclaimer about his leg. He was in a cage almost directly in front of me so when I looked up from my computer screen I’d see his fat face staring at me. I heard people discuss him all day long and it was always the same thing ‘I don’t want to adopt a broken kitten’. My husband often came into the shelter after work so he spent a lot more time with Squirt than I did. He REALLY wanted him and the shelter manager knew it. One day the shelter manager told me to take Squirt home on a ‘long term foster’ and see how it went. Haha! We were worried about how he'd do with the stairs and if it was going to be a problem for him with his bad leg. I brought the carrier upstairs to show him where the litter boxes were and let him get acclimated. Right. I opened the carrier door and he was off, down the hall and to the stairs. We both ran after him. We got to the stairs just as he decided he was going downstairs. It was like a cartoon, he went ass over tea kettle and we could hear him trying to grab on to the carpet with his claws, unsuccessfully. We both stood at the top of the stairs absolutely stunned. He landed on all four feet at the bottom of the stairs, shook himself and ran off. It didn't faze him in the least.
You’re not supposed to have favorites. I’ve been around a lot of cats and kittens and I love all of our cats. BUT there is something special about Squirt. Ernie and I were close, Herbie was the first cat I ever adopted, I spoon fed Jack to make sure he gained weight and yet there is something unique about Squirt. When I talk to him, he looks me in the eye and I realize how it sounds when I say that he understands me. But I swear he understands me and listens to me. Even my husband agrees there is a certain human like quality to Squirt's face.
He follows me around like a dog and if I call him he comes running. He sits on the counter in the bathroom when I brush my teeth and wash my face at night and in the morning he watches me put my makeup on. He sits on my towel when I shower. He follows me to the door when I leave for work in the morning. I come home for lunch and he greets me at the door and has lunch with me. When he’s sick he sleeps next to me and spoons me. When I’m sick he lays by my feet, he’s my special boy. If Squirt was a human his teachers would say he’s impulsive and can’t keep his hands to himself. Squirt races around and is very busy. He goes from one thing to another like a tornado.
After Ernie died B started saying we needed another ‘orange boy’. I rolled my eyes at first, but then one day when I was working a lady brought in a litter of orange kittens. There were five of them, three were girls. The two males were blind in one eye. I knew when I saw them that one would be coming home with us. I told B to come by and meet them that afternoon. They went to foster care and after they came back to the shelter we took one. I’ll be honest, I didn’t take to Winston right away. It felt like I was cheating on Ernie. I had surgery shortly after Winnie came to live with us. He wormed his way into my heart when we were sitting around watching the Today Show. He’s not the smartest cat and he’s very nervous but he’s very sweet and very handsome.
Ok, so now that I’ve set the table I will explain the premise of the Double H Ranch. Back when we had Herbie, Lucky & Ernie I thought it would be cute to send my husband an email from the cats. Maybe I’m crazy, maybe I have a vivid imagination but the whole thing quickly grew from just a few emails to stories about the cats. They got jobs, bought cars and had adventures. Eventually Herbie was able to buy a diary ranch just outside of town and he now employs hundreds of local cats. In addition he has the cows, a raccoon, a pig, an elephant, a goat and various other creatures that all perform various tasks at the ranch.
Over time the stories and adventures became more and more elaborate and I started telling some of our friends. They LOVE my stories and have urged me to write them down, either in the form of children’s books or at the very least in a blog form. I think it’s pretty tough to publish children’s books and I’m not much of a writer so I opted to go the blog route. This blog is about the adventures and daily happenings at the Double H Ranch. Please note that I’m not crazy, I’m just able to see their various personalities and what they’d be like IF they were human. So take them for what they are, light-hearted stories about cats and other creatures…ENJOY!
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