Savannah's Paw Tracks

Autobiography of a Former Shelter Cat

Archive for the tag “special need cat rescue”

Monday Meowsie News…What a Treat!

HIYA!!   SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I have a few things I think you are going to want to see today.  First and foremost…let me tell you what a time I gave Mom and Dad with my snail mail Holiday Cards!! (this little Holiday photo of me is courtesy of my BFGF (best feline girl furriend) Cathy Keisha…cute, huh?)

DSC_0352

Well…actually…it was all Mom’s fault you see…she signed me up for not ONE but TWO Holiday card exchange lists!!…heh…heh…we never knew that the woofies and kitties have SEPARATE lists!! YIKES!!!

So you can bet that Zazzle card shop made some green papers from us this year…the best part is though…I am getting to know like a TON of new woofie and even some kitty furriends…pawsome I tell you, simply pawsome…I have also been receiving some beautiful ecards and so I hope you enjoy viewing them in this slideshow…(you can click to bigify)

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Now let me tell you something I learned from one of my new woofie furriends…Freedom, Nikki, Casper…all retired Greyhounds and their feline furramily member 17 year old Twinkie.  There is a place you can make all your used postage stamps give back again…here is what Miss Lori  wrote in the card I received from What Remains Now

“Wondering what to do with all those stamps on the Holiday Cards you receive??…send them to me, Miss Lori Lohymeyer.  I collect the used postage for a friend in the UK who writes the blog Graceful Greyhounds…she collects them for the retired Greyhound Trust.  Just collect all those used postage stamps, all year if you want, and send it to me and I will send it to my friend in the UK.”

If you are willing to do this, just send Mom Linda an email and she will send you Miss Lori’s mailing address in Indianna.  lcrodgers at sbcglobal dot net. I don’t wanna put Miss Lori’s personal address in a very public blog post. We have been saving them like crazy and will send them off to Miss Lori after January 1…then once every 4-6 months.  What an easy way to help care for retired Greyhounds.  I stole a photo of one of her Greyhounds resting up after all that running career…*giggle*…isn’t she sweet?!

Polly All Snug 23rd Nov

I have been visiting like a crazy cat since Friday…I still have lots more to catch up on…but I figure I visited about 50 or more furriends and made sure to read the last 3 posts as much as I could…you guys have ALL been so busy!! And what fun it is to see you again…if you haven’t seen me in your comments the last 3 days…tag me my comments and I will be right over!!! PURROMISE!

Paw Pats, Savannah

Sunday Hopefulness…

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Have you ever noticed that sometimes our humans’ have all kinds of ‘hopefulness’…for us, the cat(s)?  I mean, they often don’t even let us know they have this ‘hopefulness’…for us…on their minds.

Nice morning in bed

Nice morning in bed

Maybe it’s just me…but I think that can lead to all kinds of miscommunication, misunderstandings and what not…don’t ‘cha think?? Or is it just me???

Well you all know I have been having to do some investigating…about several things…

  • First…there were some rumors around blogville that made it sound like my furriends thought I might miss having Cuzin Leo around…and they were feeling a tad sad I was all alone…so I had to go check out who thought that and make sure they knew…”nope, nope and more nope”…don’t miss Cuzin Leo at all…happy he has his very OWN furrever castle…thank you very much…so ’nuff said on that rumor
  • Then…there have been these recurring shadows around my home…some of you have seen the evidence in some of my photos…so I had to get out my steampunk investigative tools to try to learn what that was all about…what I learned…not pretty…no siree…not pretty at all.

So as the saying goes…”who ya gonna call…if there’s something strange in your neighborhood??”…why our peeps, of course!!! Right???

Wrong…when I finally brought all my findings to Mom and Dad…guess what they tried to do?…go on…guess…guess???…you won’t believe it…I am telling you…not for one itty bitty minute…you so won’t believe what they tried to do…one last ditch effort on their part…

They tried to pass off the shadows, the rumors…etc. as if it was all about…get this…SANTA PAWS!!! Like ‘as if’ Santa Paws was right here in my home!!! HAH!

And then they did it…they presented their evidence…

Seriously? Santa Paws??

Seriously? Santa Paws??

Yup…there was Dad…holding this stoopid plushie black panfur kitty and saying it was “Santa Paws”…harruuummmppfffff….

And then…that plushie moved!!!

It can leap!!

It can leap!!

It's in my Three Way Teleport Tunnel!!!

It’s in my Three Way Teleport Tunnel!!!

Playing with my toys!!

Playing with my toys!!

Holy Ceiling Cat!!! They were hoping I would want a SISFUR!!!! AIIIEEEEEEEE!!! Who asked me??? Who, I ask, who????

Now I realized that Mom and Dad had been trying to get me all softened up for this “great new adventure”…heh…heh…yeah…like whose adventure is this gonna be???

Here is some of the photo evidence I have collected as to just WHAT I have been subjected to over the last 6 weeks…

…first…I began to notice someone had been messing around near one of my beds…(you can click to bigify OR see each gallery as a slideshow…hover cursor over photos to see captions)

…I set up a surveillance camera…look what I found…

This is when I just knew this was no “shadow“…HAH! Can’t fool a Tuxie, no way…no how…

So one morning…minding my own business in bed…just chilling with Mom…

Now I knew…this was no mirage or shadow…this was INVASION!!!….so there has been a lot of this…

…and this…just look at her…sneaking up on me in my very own special TENT my mentor Sammy taught me how to use….harummpppfff….

There have been some relaxed times…when I feel especially safe with Mom by me…

Sigh…I am not a very happy cat right now…so I am gonna give this last bit over to Mom Linda…

“errrrr….ummmm…Hi Everyone…Mom Linda here.  So here is what is going on.  Dad Peter and I believe in everything about Pets Add Life….more than one is always more fun and usually more comforting for both humans and our furry furramily.   And we committed that if we EVER adopted another cat, besides Savvy, it would be a black panfur.  We have looked, researched, waited…and learned…it doesn’t matter what gender, nor age,  the companion feline is, what counts most is the personality when it comes into contact with the resident feline.  Especially when that resident feline is Savannah…an adult survivor of kittenhood trauma…I am not mocking the real challenges of Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma…rather using what I know, as a counseling psychologist, as I work with Savannah who so mirrors many of the human challenges of moving through to recovering from this early child/kitten experience.

I have been trying to chronicle our Nana’s recovery process.  She has nightmares, cries out in her sleep, mews like a newborn kitten and seeks solace at my side. We have conferred with many long time feline experts…and they, like us, are convinced that Nana was feral early in life, most likely attacked by males cats in a feral colony for mating…hence she has such developed shoulder and neck muscle…and she is terrified of other cats…convinced they are out to harm her.  She has little to no self esteem/self confidence. She only defends and hopes to escape.

Sweet Sage, so pure and innocent…perhaps one of the most well socialized cats we have ever been around. She is about 17 months old…mellow…non-confrontational in the beginning…but now learning she can dominate Nana.  So sad.

We have not talked about this effort on our part on the blog…we did not want to have others have the same hope we have had…that Nana could accommodate a housemate. We have done all the Feliway, Spirit of Essence, behavioral consults, book readings…consultations with cat vet specialists and long time feral cat rescue folks etc.  Trust me, we have not missed any homework.

But…we are not convinced that Nana can survive having another cat in her safe space.  She is truly a special need feline…psychologically/behaviorally speaking.  We honor her and her willingness to give us her trust to protect her.

We have not yet ‘thrown in the towel’ so to speak…but want you all to know what has been going on in our home.

Thank you all for continuing to come by and visit Savannah even when I have not been able to consistently visit and comment for all of you.  This has been very time consuming to manage the girls’ integration process with the care we want to give it.  You are such good friends and a wonderful supportive community.  Thank you for your care and understanding.

Paw Pats from Savannah, Head bonks from Sage and grateful humility from Mom Linda and Dad Peter.

Friday Frolics…

HIYA!!  SAVANNAH HERE!!!

This has been some week…so much fun!  I have been doing lots of this…

And then some of this…

Much will be finally revealed Sunday…in my SPECIAL EDITION of Savannah’s Paw Tracks: Sunday Hopefulness…stop by if you dare to learn about the mysteries I have been investigating.

Now for something I hope we can all get some “frolics’ out of…giving at the holiday time…even if $1…every bit helps…my furriend Miss Ingrid King, The Conscious Cat,  just did a mawvahlous post about the Santa Paws Drive…you must, simply must read about it.  Click HERE…to read their post.

My former shelter/rescue…Contra Costa Humane Society is one of the SIX recipients selected.  And as you know…they have been forced to move just before our USA Thanksgiving Holiday to a temporary site. Our old landlord raised the rent SO HIGH…we could not afford it…

Arrival!!

Arrival!!

And if you are able to consider a gift for this pawsome cause this year, staring at $1…please click on the badge to be transported directly to their DONATION options.

secret santa 2013

Have a very happy weekend…and be sure to check back with my for my Sunday Hopefulness post…all my mysteriousness will be brought to a finale…not closure mind you…just revelation as to what I have now confirmed as FACT…just sayin’…

Paw Pats, Savannah

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