Clark Gable, Feline Star

Meet our newest foster cat, Clark Gable. This dapper, tuxedo-wearing fellow sports half a 'stache and has a sweet and mellow personality--a true gentleman.

Mmmraow! 

Clark Gable, as we've named this elegant boy, was often seen around the neighborhood. We checked with different neighbors, and it seems he was visiting various houses for food (like the cat in the children's book Six-Dinner Sid), but he had no home. Although he was living outside for as long as a year, Clark's gentle personality made us think he'd lived with people at some point.

 This summer, while we were fostering kittens, Clark often came to the front door for dinner. As the weather got crisper, we started feeding him inside the garage, and set up a cardboard box with a blanket in it. He soon adopted this as his bed.

Clark at the vet, making himself at home.

Around Thanksgiving, when the weather got colder, Clark started coming inside for little visits. He was initially timid about being in enclosed spaces, but once he knew he could get out if he wanted to, he relaxed. He decided having a soft bed and a warm place to sleep was a good thing. And now, he's very content to be a well-fed, much-admired indoor kitty.

Clark went to the vet, where he was a model patient. He is FIV and FeLV negative, has all his shots (he's going back for a booster soon), is neutered, and seems to be about three years old. He is super-friendly with people and he's not at all aggressive with other cats. So far, our cats haven't been very friendly toward him, but we're still hoping to integrate them if we can't find him another home.

If you're interested in adopting Clark Gable, send an email to mirishouse (at) gmail.com.

A star of the silver screen!

In the Home Stretch

First to leave the nest!

Big changes are happening in Kitten Land. Our little family has gone from six kittens to four. Sandstone and Onyx, our two biggest boys, have gone to their forever home.

They've already got new names, too. Meet Dizzy and Miles ;-)

 

Onyx, AKA Miles Davis

 We're happy to report that they've made the transition well and are happily adjusting to their new home and loving their new person. We know that giving kittens a good start in life helps them grow up to be friendly, social cats, and we love knowing that they have a safe and loving home.

Sandstone, AKA Dizzy Gillespie

Next in line to be adopted will be Mama Opal and Galena, then Jasper and Mica, and last (but certainly not least) Sunstone. We'll be enjoying our last few weeks with them, even as we feel that bittersweet longing that we could keep them forever.

We are still always in need of donations for food, litter, and daily expenses. Your donation in any amount will be so appreciated! Thank you for supporting Miri's House.

That First Day of School Feeling ...

Hello, World!

It's September. That time of year when the temperature turns from hot and humid to cooler and crisper (soon, we hope!) and when those cute "first day of school" pictures start showing up all over social media. It's the start of something exciting and new--but also, for parents, a little bittersweet, as they watch their babies pass each new milestone on the way to growing up.

It's like that with each new litter of foster kittens. Somehow, seeing them start out as tiny, helpless fuzzballs, it's always hard to believe they will ever grow up to be fully grown, independent cats, but it happens every time.

Put your paws in the air!

We can see it happening now, with Opal's kittens. They're still clearly kittens, and ridiculously adorable kittens at that, but they're starting to look less like babies and more like little cats. They've lost that wobbly, tentative walk. Now they're racing wildly around the room, leaping fearlessly from the backs of chairs to the floor, and scaling cardboard boxes with ease. Even the most reluctant holdouts, our mama's boys Onyx and Jasper, now come running for cat food instead of demanding mom-serve. They're mastering the litter box, too.

There are other signs. They no longer sleep in one big kitten pile. Now we find them here and there, paired off or sleeping solo. They no longer cry when you pick them up, and some of them are even considering future careers as lap cats.

Sunstone, just chillin'.

Today, Opal and her kittens were separated for several hours as the kittens went for their first vet visit. (All six are healthy and thriving!) They all handled the separation well, and the kittens took their first car ride without crying. Instead, they just seemed curious--waiting for the next step, when they join their new families and take their first look at a new, wider world.

The good news is: all the kittens AND Mama Opal have already found great homes. :-)

And the bad news is: that means they'll be leaving soon. :-(

Dinner, family style.

During the kittens' last few weeks, we are still in need of donations. In addition to their vet exam and immunizations, which were nearly $300, there are the regular weekly expenses of food, litter, and other supplies, which are growing with the kittens. If you can, please consider making a donation of any amount or sending a gift from our Amazon wish list. Thanks from Opal, Onyx, Jasper, Sandstone, Sunstone, Mica, and Galena!

Sponsor a foster cat or kitten!

Kitten Vet Visit $80.00 USD 1 Case Kitten Food $30.00 USD 4 Cans Kitten Food $5.00 USD

You can also go to PayPal and send a donation of any amount to mirishouse@gmail.com. If you'd prefer to mail a check, please email us for our address.

Parents' Weekend

Jasper, Sunstone, Sandstone, and Galena

Remember at summer camp, when it was parents' weekend, and you got to show off all your swimming trophies and arts and crafts projects?

Stunning Mama Opal

It was sort of like that at Miri's House this past weekend, only the visitors were future kitty parents, and the kittens didn't really have any prizes to show.

Beautiful Onyx

Although if they gave prizes for cuteness, they would win them all! Here's a small taste of the complete cuteness overload of Opal and her five-week-old kittens.

Sleepy siblings: Galena, Sunstone, Jasper

Playful Galena

Sweet Jasper

Last Days of the Mom Cafe

Lunchtime at the Mom Cafe

Our tiny kittens are growing up! They are five weeks old today, and they've graduated from the nursing box to the wide, wide world of the kitten room.

A world of boxes and toys and scratching posts and a whole big bed that they can get up on and down from, all on their own.

They're starting to explore the litter box (is it just a fun box to play in, or is it something else?), and, just yesterday, they took their first bites of solid food!

Of course, they're still nursing, but Mama Opal will no doubt be glad to no longer be the sole source of nutrition for her gang of six. She's been doing a great job so far. All the kittens are well over the milestone of one pound, where they should be at this age.

Here are their current weights, in ounces:

Onyx--21.55
Sandstone--20.99
Sunstone--20.07 
Jasper--19.68
Mica--18.20
Galena--17.53

This confirms our suspicion that Mica and Galena are the only girls in this litter. They may be smaller than the boys, but they're not lagging behind in their development in any way. All the kittens are bright, curious, playful, friendly, and in perfect health. Great job, Mama!

Kitten food! Yum!

So When You're Having a Bad Day ...

Just look at these pictures of little kittens going to sleep.

Really. Just look at them. 

That is all.  

The CATcher in the Rye

So a few things happened in Kittyland this week ...

Sweet, playful Nimbus, the kitten who was rescued from outside, went to his forever home with some wonderful friends who are also great cat people. We will miss him, but we know he will be happy and loved in his new home, and he'll even have a kitty near his own age who will match his energy level and play with him to his heart's content. Happy tails, Nimbus!

Nimbus surveying his new kingdom

In other ways, it was a tough week. Ian, our resident "ambassador cat," who's usually the first cat to help socialize the foster kittens, developed an abscess, perhaps from a scratch from roughhousing with Nimbus or another cat. One more vet visit we can't afford. :-(  Ian is on antibiotics now, and we're hoping he's back to his usual happy and healthy self soon.

Feel better, Ian!

The kittens enjoyed a few visits from admirers and adopters, and it looks like Mama Opal and Galena will be going home together! We love it when that happens.

Sleepy Jasper

Meanwhile, Jasper and Onyx have also been spoken for, and their adopters are planning to each take another kitten, so we may have only one kitten left for adoption!

What about me, and my cute little bean toes?

But that won't be until mid-September. In the meantime, they still have lots of growing up to do. We just introduced a mini litter box (actually, a cardboard cat food box) for them to try out. At last look, it seemed to have been used, so they're learning! Next we'll try to get them interested in solid food. Right now, Mama is still nursing six kittens, which means she's eating as many as 7-8 cans of cat food per day, plus dry food. In fact, we were getting worried because we were almost out of food (and funds), when an Amazon package of Fancy Feast came in from an anonymous donor.

A box! YAY!

The kittens are too young to enjoy the food, but they definitely loved the box it came in! And we always appreciate donations, either through our Amazon wish list, PayPal, or our GoFundMe page.

So, this morning I went in to the kitten room to feed Mama and check on the kitties. I found Jasper and Onyx playing together in the kitten drawer, while the other four kitties had climbed out and were sleeping in the cat bed. After Mama ate, I brought them up on the bed to play with their new box and other toys, and soon enough they gathered around Opal to nurse. She lay right at the edge of the bed, so I curled my arm around her back to keep her from falling off, and there I sat, holding Opal, watching the kittens nursing and kneading, hearing them purr, hearing Mama purr, and she looked at me and gave a slow blink of contentment and trust, as if to say, "I know you won't let me fall. I know you'll take care of me and my babies, no matter what."

And suddenly it occurred to me: I'm the catcher in the rye. I can't end all war, stop discrimination everywhere, end world hunger. But I can do what I can, in a small way, in my own small corner of the world, to keep a few little lives from falling off the edge. A catcher in the rye, for cats.

Three Weeks Old!

Today the kittens are three weeks old. They've gone from tiny, furry blobs unable to see or hear to active, curious toddlers who are almost ready to start exploring the world beyond the kitten drawer.

Six kittens is a big litter, and Mama Opal is our heroine. Not only is she keeping all of them clean, well fed, and healthy, she's a watchful and diligent mom. When we put the kittens up on top of the bed so they can meet new people, Mama keeps a close watch, making sure no one gets too close to the edge.

This tiny girl is doing a great job, even though she looks as if she's barely eight months old herself. She's always hungry, of course, because she's got so many kittens to feed, and she can easily go through six to eight cans of cat food per day ... one per kitten and one to grow on!

We're off to the vet today to pick up some deworming medicine for the babies (and mom) to make sure everyone stays healthy. Meanwhile, Nimbus is approaching four months old and will be fixed at the beginning of August. He may be going home with his new family soon.

We appreciate all the donations we've received. We absolutely could not do this without help. Right now, we have lots of dry cat food. Our biggest need is canned kitten food and canned cat food, and money for medicine, vet visits, and getting Mama Opal, Nimbus, and all six kittens fixed.

If you'd like to donate, use the link on our page, or just send a donation to paypal.me/MirisHouse.  If you'd prefer to send a check, just email mirishouse(at)gmail.com for our address. Email us there for adoption applications as well, but don't wait too long--we already have several people interested in kittens!

Thanks for all your support.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Six Kits!

Mama Opal's six kittens are one week old today, and they're busy growing up and growing strong.  They really are an adorable bunch, each with unique coloring. And just in time for their birthday, we received some wonderful surprise packages from Amazon.

From Suzanne Fortier: a case of canned cat food, a bag of kitten food, AND a soft cat bed! Thank you, Suzanne!

And from Cheryl Hablanian, a kitten-sized scale, which we used immediately to check everyone's weight. Thank you, Cheryl!

Now that the kittens are starting to toddle around, open their eyes, and develop their own personalities, we think it's about time they had names of their own. In keeping with Opal's lovely and old-fashioned name, we're giving the kittens gemstone and mineral names.

So here  are their names and vital statistics:

Jasper--dark orange--8.1 oz.

Mama keeping a careful eye on Jasper, who's fleeing the scale

Sandstone--light orange/buff--8.4 oz.

Curious Sandstone--eyes open and ready to explore!

Sunstone--light orange/buff and white--7.6 oz

What a cute little Creamsicle!

Onyx--black with white markings--8.5oz

Look at those eyes!

Mica--grey and white--7.8 oz

Those little pink feet!

Galena--dilute calico--6.9 oz

So sweet and so petite!

Mama was a little worried that we took the kittens out of their under-the-bed drawer to weigh them, but once we had everyone back safe and sound, she took a play break.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped us care for this beautiful little family.

Six Plus One!

Mama Opal had her kittens. Seven of them. That's a big litter for a little mama!

Sadly, one of the kittens--who we named Star--was stillborn. Goodbye, Little Star. You were loved, however briefly, and will be remembered.

Mama and the other six kittens seem to be doing well. They're quite the multicolored bunch: black with white accents, dilute calico, light ginger, dark ginger, grey-and-white, and ginger-and-white.

Oh, and adorable--needless to say.

Meanwhile, outdoor rescue Nimbus is getting more and more social every day. When he's not zooming around a room, chasing the grownup cats, he likes to cuddle and purr.

So: six baby kittens, one crazy toddler kitten, one mama cat, and three very patient resident cats. It's a 44-paw household!

Thanks to all our wonderful donors for your support. We could never do it without you!

Kitten Season!

It's summer, and that means KITTENS EVERYWHERE! Including at Miri's House. Because, even though we were trying to take a break from fostering to give our older kitties a little rest, sometimes homeless cats find a way.

Like this little kitten who was born outside, and whose feral mama just gave birth to yet another litter of kittens.

Nimbus, age 12 weeks, learning to love a safe indoor life.

And this pregnant mama who turned up on somebody's doorstep, as hungry for attention as she was for food.

Opal, a sweet and very pregnant kitty.

Right now, we've got a full house--with more to come, because Mama Opal, the beautiful calico, is due to give birth any day now.

We named the gray and white kitten Nimbus, thanks to a suggestion from one of our adopters, and named his mother Stormcloud. When he first came into rescue, he hid and hissed at anyone who got near him. He wasn't sure about being picked up and cuddled at first, but now he immediately starts up his little purr motorboat when you hold him.

Stormcloud (L) and Nimbus (R), in their outdoor days.

And we've just learned that he has more siblings his own age. We are concerned about them, and about Nimbus's mother, Stormcloud, and her new litter of kittens who remain hidden somewhere outside. Our neighbor has been feeding the outdoor kitties, and was able to capture Stormcloud--but she managed to rip her way through a window screen and escaped outside.

Then there's a sleek, dark-gray cat who we think is the father of all these litters. He keeps turning up on porches, looking for a home.

The number of cats who need help can feel overwhelming. We can't rescue them all, but we hope to find some help to rescue all the kittens, find them homes, and, if we can't find homes for the older outside kitties, at least get them fixed.

Nimbus has had his first set of shots and is due to be fixed in a few weeks. Mama Opal and her kittens will also need medical attention soon.

Can you help? Here is our wish list:
--Funds for veterinary care and spay/neuter for all current fosters and strays (click our "Feed the Kitties" PayPal link)
--Foster caregivers for the outdoor kitties (all you need is love--and a spare room)
--Kitten food and cat litter (we have an Amazon Wish List for those wishing to donate that way)
--Pet-proof window screens, and someone to install them, to keep foster kitties safe

If you can help with any of these, please donate through our PayPal link on this blog's main page or email mirishouse(at)gmail.com.

Thank mew!

Mama Stormcloud--still outside; desperately seeking foster home for her and her kittens.