A Home for Everybody?

Ember and Moondust

Moondust was adopted last month, and she's enjoying life in her new home with her adopted brother--who looks remarkably like her!

Moondust is a Mini-Me! 

Good news for Ember, as well--she had a visit from some adopters and is scheduled to go to her new home next week. She got spayed first, and we planned it so that Moondust came for an overnight and both sisters went to the vet together. We were a little worried that Ember and Emily wouldn't recognize Moondust after two weeks, but they were thrilled to see her. Both kittens came through their spaying with no problems and are doing just fine.

Now we're just hoping for a great home for Mama Emily, too. Please share and help this elegant, sweet little black cat find her forever family for the holidays.

Emily and Moondust--reunited, and it feels so good!

Tortitude

Little Moondust found a loving home at last. Now sweet, funny little Ember is the last kitten left in Mama Emily's litter. We hope she can find a home soon, one that will be the perfect fit for her.

Ember

Ember is especially close to her mom, and we hope these two beautiful girls can be adopted together. Please email mirishouse (at) gmail.com if you are interested in adopting this cute mini-family.

Daughter and Mom

Ian, the Ambassador Cat

When foster kittens get past the baby age, it's important for them to meet other cats so they learn social skills. At Miri's House, we have three resident cats--Duncan, Ian, and Molly--who help kittens in training extend their social circle beyond Mom.

Duncan doesn't usually mind the little visitors, as long as they don't go near his food.

Molly can take them or leave them, but generally prefers to leave them. (Molly, by the way, is a foster failure.)

But Ian--Ian is the Ambassador Cat.

Former foster kitty Luna with Ian

He's always the first to greet kittens with a friendly nose-bump, and he doesn't mind if they take a curious sniff of him, or even his food dish.

Thanks, Ian! You are patient, mellow, and friendly, the perfect feline role model.

A Little Visit with the Kits

The girls at play. 

Ember and Moondust, winding down. 

Moondust and Ember entertained a few young visitors yesterday and enjoyed their play session. They followed all the jumping, chasing, running action with a nice Sunday afternoon nap.

Moondust, taking five. 

It looks like Moondust may be getting adopted soon, and that this may be the week for both the girls to get fixed. We will be calling the vet to make arrangements. In the meantime, we're enjoying their cute, playful personalities as well as the gentler moments when they curl up for some well-deserved sleep. Here's a wish that all of you--Mama Emily, Ember, and Moondust--find the best homes ever! 

Mama and her lovely tortie girl enjoying the lamplight. 

A Little Family That Needs a Home for the Holidays

Now that Shadow has a forever home, we'd like to see Mama Emily, Ember, and Moondust find homes too--maybe even together.

Ember is an adorable female tortie kitten with a sweet personality. She is three months old, has had her first and second set of shots, and is FIV/FeLV negative. She's ready to snuggle her way into your heart!

Moondust is a beautiful and playful three-month-old white kitten with calico markings. She has unusual bi-colored eyes (hazel and blue) and a fun-loving personality. Like her sister, she is up to date on her shots, has tested negative for FIV and FeLV, and is ready for a home of her own! Moondust and her sister, Ember, get along well with kids, adults, and other cats.

Mama Emily is a petite (only 7 1/2 pounds), lovely all-black cat who was found living on her own. We think she is about a year old. She is an excellent mom to her kittens and an elegant, sweet, and clean little lady who would love a gentle, affectionate home. Emily has shown aggression with other cats, so we recommend that she go to a home where she can be the only resident feline (unless she is adopted with one of her kittens). Emily is spayed, FIV/FeLV negative and up to date on her shots. She'd love to keep you company!

If you are interested in adopting one, two, or all three of these cute cats and kittens, please email mirishouse (at) gmail.com or send a message to us on our Facebook page.

Shadow Knows

Shadow is going to her forever home tonight! We will miss this bright-eyed, lively yet cuddly little tortie, but we know she'll get tons of playtime, attention, and love in her forever home. Goodbye, little Two-Tan-Toes! We wish you the best nine lives ever.

The Whole Furry Family!

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Clockwise from top: Ember, Emily, Shadow, and Moondust.

Ten Weeks!

It's hard to believe they're growing up at last. It seems like they were just born, just opening their eyes.

Moondust

Now they're off to the vet. And in just a few weeks, they will be heading for their forever homes.

Shadow

The kittens are becoming more adventurous and independent. But they still need your help! If you can, please donate through our PayPal or GoFundMe to help sponsor the kittens' check-up and vaccinations.

Thanks and purrs to all our supporters!

Ember

The Three Little Kittens

Ember, Shadow, and Moondust were some of the tiniest kittens we've ever seen ... and now, approaching their two-month birthday, they're still pretty tiny.

Left to right: Shadow, Ember, and Moondust

They are still not so sure about solid food, though they're happy to lap up KMR (kitten milk replacement formula) and have started sampling a mixture of that and wet food. They're learning to use the litter box, but they still have accidents sometimes, like any toddlers. In short, they look and act more like 5-week-old kittens than almost 8-week-olds.

But Mama Emily, herself, is a tiny cat, and probably not more than seven months old. She was living in an abandoned house when she was rescued, so she probably didn't get the greatest nutrition during most of her pregnancy. We think the kittens were premature--so, like all preemies, they may not hit the developmental marks on the same timetable as others their age.

A box of Moondust!

 But the good news is, they're healthy, active, and playful as all get-out. It may take them a little longer to start looking and behaving like big cats, but what's wrong with that? We get to enjoy their kittenhood a little bit longer--and it's hard to find anything cuter than little kittens.

A catnap for Ember

She Likes It! Hey, Moondust!

Ember (on scratcher ramp), Moondust (in scratcher ramp), and Shadow (on track). 

Okay, a kitten taking her first taste of non-Mom food may not seem like a huge deal, but since we've been worrying for weeks about the kittens not wanting to eat, it's a pretty big deal around here.


The kittens are six weeks old, and still not weaned. Most other litters we've fostered have shown interest in food by around four weeks.

"What's this stuff?"

Of course, all kittens develop at different rates, and our current crew--Shadow, Ember, and Moondust--were smaller than usual at birth, with a very young mama cat. We even think they might have been slightly premature. One kitten in the litter, little Dusk, only lived one day.


But they are growing well, and they are beyond any doubt active, playful, and healthy. Still, we couldn't help worrying: were these kittens ever going to eat?

"She likes it! Hey, Moondust!" 

Today, Moondust, the smallest of the three, took the plunge. She came out from her new favorite hidey-hole in the scratching ramp to investigate a dish of KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement)--and she decided it was worth a taste. Once she got started, she licked up nearly the whole dish!

We're hoping her litter-mates follow suit. And we're pretty sure Mama hopes so, too!

Official Kitties!

Cute little tortie Ember

Great news! Miri's House Cat & Kitten Rescue, Inc., is now an official nonprofit corporation in Massachusetts. Thanks to everyone who supported our GoFundMe drive so we could file for nonprofit status, and a special shout-out of thanks to Lori Bradley of iAnimal Southcoast Pet Rescue, Inc., whose work for animal welfare is a huge inspiration.

We've been really fortunate this year to receive donations of kitten food, a cat carrier, and several scratching posts and toys. High on our wish list: some cat trees to create more vertical space for both our fosters and our resident cats and a screened porch to give the kitties a chance to get some fresh air in a safe enclosure. We're hoping that someone will offer to donate materials and labor to help us build one.

Sweet tortie Shadow

In the meantime, our current crop of kittens are growing up and will soon be ready for their first set of shots. They will be meeting some potential adopters this weekend, and should be ready to go to their new homes after their second set of shots in October. Mama will need to be spayed, and we hope that we can find her a great home as well. She has done a wonderful job raising her girls.

It's amazing how quickly these little kittens grow up--and how cute they are in the process!

Kitty photobomb: white calico Moondust with a guest appearance by Ember! 

Campaigning for Kittens!

Here at Miri's House, we've always been a nonprofit--in the sense that none of our rescue work is done for profit, and any donations we receive go to feeding and caring for animals--but we never applied for official nonprofit status. It seemed complicated, and possibly expensive.

But now we've gotten some good advice from other animal rescue workers, and we've found an accountant who will donate his time to work with us, and we're going for it.

When we went to file our initial paperwork online, though, we realized that we didn't even have enough money in the checking account for the filing fee. Let's just say that with one of our two volunteer kitten carers out of work since May, it's been a difficult summer for the rescue AND the rescuers.

So we've started a GoFundMe campaign, and we have just gotten our first donations! Soon, we'll be able to file for nonprofit status, and then all donations to Miri's House Cat & Kitten Rescue will be tax-deductible.

We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, BIG PURRS to all our donors and supporters!

You can support our GoFundMe campaign by visiting, sharing, and donating at

http://www.gofundme.com/mirishouse. 

Good Morning, Moondust!

Good morning, Moondust! 

Learning to Play

Happy birthday, kittens! They are one month old and learning to play. 

They're starting to understand what toys are for--but they know a sibling is just as fun.

Kittens are rolling, wrestling, and chasing. 

And then stopping to pose adorably, just because they can. 

Ember

Shadow

Moondust

You can sponsor one of our kittens or Mama Cat! Your donation of $15 will feed this little family for a week. Additional donations will help with litter, toys, and the first shots they will need very soon. Thanks for following and for helping our rescue! 

Shadow Leads the Pack!

Today was weigh-in day for Mama Emily's kittens.

Sweet, small Moondust is the most petite kitten, but still growing well at 13.4 ounces.

Moondust

Little tortie Ember is in the middle: 14.3 ounces.

Ember

And our other tortie, Shadow, is the first kitten to pass the pound mark--she's in the lead at 1 pound, 2 ounces!

Shadow

Ember has a little skin swelling that could be a bite from roughhousing with the other kittens. We're keeping an eye on it and hoping she doesn't need a vet visit like Leo, our fluffy orange kitten from two years back.

Tortie Times Two! 

But other than that, everyone seems healthy--we've only heard a few sneezes, everyone's eyes are clear, and they are all active, alert, and relaxed around people. We think they're going to grow up to be great cats!

Wishin' and Hopin' ...

We had a wonderful surprise the other day: we came home and found a bag of kitten food hanging on our door. That's in addition to all the exciting Amazon deliveries we've had--food, toys, scratching posts.

Did someone say FOOD?

Now that the kittens are getting ready to eat on their own and learn to use the litter box, we've added some new items to our Amazon Wish List. We do have an older kitten litter box we could use, but we've noticed that Emily, our new mom, is highly sensitive to smells and reacts badly to anything that smells like other cats, so we think she would be less nervous if we started these kittens with a brand-new box.

Hard-working Mama Emily taking a lunch break after feeding the kittens.

If you'd like your gift to be acknowledged, or if you're donating in honor of a person or cat, please include a gift card with your order. In the meantime, special purrs of thanks to Laura C., Rosalie M., and Marybeth R. for their generous donations!

Baby Steps

Our three little kittens are growing bigger and more active every day! They're still in the "kitten drawer" for now, safe in their snug nook under the bed, but they come out for regular play sessions and to socialize with visitors. We also weigh them (in a Tupperware container, on a food scale), and everyone is doing well--just past twelve ounces. Of course, like any ladies, they don't always care to get on the scale!

Hey! Don't weigh me, FEED ME! 

We tried introducing them to wet food yesterday, but no one showed any interest yet. That will come very soon, though--and then they will learn to use a litter box--and soon they will be big enough to climb out of the kitten drawer on their own and start exploring.

Soon I shall escape this prison, and the world shall tremble at my wrath! 

But no rush. Right now they're three weeks old, no longer helpless babies but toddlers, just starting to take their first steps to independence. Good job, Mama Emily!

Mom still makes the best pillow! 

Thank you to all those who have donated to help support our little family. Donations (through PayPal) and adoption requests can be sent to mirishouse (at) gmail.com. The kittens and mama should be ready to go to their new homes around the end of September or beginning of October.

Two Weeks Old!

Ember, Shadow, and Moondust had a tough start in life. Their mother Emily--not much more than a kitten herself--was found undernourished and living on the street. The kittens were unusually small at birth. One of the siblings, Dusk, only lived one day. Mama was terrified of any potential threat to her kits and once even managed to get out of her room and attack another foster cat in the house. Was this going to be the little litter that couldn't? 

But now ...

Although they were all under three ounces at birth, Ember, Shadow, and Moondust are now closer to ten ounces. They have opened their eyes and are starting to move around on their own. Mama Emily, though still protective, seems a little more relaxed and is starting to ask for affection on her own.

Everyone seems healthy and happy. And did I mention cute?

SO cute.

Welcome to the World, Ember!

Little Ember opened her eyes today! She and her siblings, Shadow and Moondust, will celebrate their two-week birthday tomorrow.

And really, is there any better way to see the world than through the innocent eyes of a kitten?