Seven Years, Seventeen Lives. Meet Our Littlest Big Kitten Hero.

This is Emma. She's seven.

She's a busy kid. There's school, chores, soccer...

All sorts of things. Plus she's ridiculously bright and well spoken so we imagine she spends a good amount of time reading and studying, though she does find time to relax occasionally...

But even when she does, she's still sort of working. Because Emma has a bit of a secret identity. She's a Foster Kitten Superhero. And has been since she was knee high to a grasshopper. 

Emma's mom Kristine is pretty stinkin' awesome herself. She's been fostering bottle baby kittens forever so when Emma came along, Kristine just recruited her to the cause. It's been all hands on deck ever since. 

Together with her mom, Emma has helped save over seventeen kittens. Which is a lot of lives to have saved in just seven years on this planet. 

She's grown up saving kittens. And from what we understand, she digs it. 

She's even found other ways to help the animals here. Emma's always been an amazing kid but she's growing up to be someone who will change the world. 

Emma helps feed the kittens, clean up after them and socializes them to go out into the world and be kid-lovin', well adjusted cats. 

Sometimes people ask us if they can foster if they have kids. We have just one answer for you...

Meet Emma.

And meet some of the kittens she's saved...

Aaaand some more..

How about a few more?

Does that answer the question?

If you'd like to foster with your family, we have foster classes every other week. And we need you. 

If you don't live in the area but your interest in piqued, contact your local shelter. It's kitten season and everyone needs help right now. Don't know your local shelter? Google it!

Cheechoo, We Need To Have A Talk..

Hey Cheechoo...

Yup.

Why have you been here so long?

Don't know. Rub the belly.

Seriously - you're awesome. First of all there's your ears...

What's up with my ears? They're just ears. 

And that's just the cosmetics. You're housebroken and have been working hard on your crate training. 

I do. And I deserve a belly rub. 

You're like the best walking buddy EVER. You'll go forever and are so good with your harness. You make us want to spend more time outside. 

I love outside. You've got to take your people for walks. 

And you're a smarty pants, too. We heard you graduated near the top of your Obedience Class and pulled off this ace trick with a treat on your nose.

Ppppffffhhhht. You flatter me. 

So why have you been here for over six months? This makes NO sense to us. 

Don't know. The flowers are nice though. Is that a treat in your hand?

And you've overcome so much. That awful flea allergy and all those medicated baths. You were so scaly and itchy and sad when we met you. You were such a champ about all the treatments. Now it's under control and you look fabulous. 

Much happier now. Not so itchy all the time. Is that a treat?

And no matter what you've been through and how long you've been here you're still just MADE of happy. You're never in a bad mood, never depressed - you are optimism personified. Everyone loves you.

Ryan is good people. Everyone is good people. Particularly if they rub the belly. 

So it's time for you to find your own peeps, Cheechoo. This has gone on long enough. We need to find you a family that can handle all your awesomeness.

Are you sick of me? 

No, we're not sick of you. We love you. You just deserve better. You're eight years old. Your time is now. 

So I need to find some peeps that need me? 

We can do that Cheechoo. We can find some folks that need snuggling and walks. We're working on it right now.

Ahem.

World's Handsomest Cat Shows Up For Photoshoot Snookered!

We have seen cats come in from the strangest places. Cats have a unique ability to get themselves stuck just about everywhere. Trees. Buckets. Drainpipes. Between walls. Usually they unstick themselves but sometimes they require human intervention and a place to be after they become unstuck. While we're not able to unstick (we have no animal control here), being the unstuck-cat repository is not new to us.

So getting a kitty that had managed to wedge himself into a drain and required the assistance of PG&E to free himself didn't make us bat an eye. Draino Sam, he had been named.

And then we saw him. And he. was. MAGNIFICENT.

Check meow-t.

We were agog. Breathless. Thunderstruck.

Draino Sam was the handsomest cat we had ever seen.

Excuse me while I practise my wistful faraway look...

Don't get us wrong - we get a lot of super-attractive felines. There is the leonine Sterling, whose stern countenance belies a goofball who adores belly rubs. But he has a great solemn stare, doesn't he?

I am the Morgan Freeman of cats.

Don't you want to put him on a dollar bill or use his profile as the seal for important documents? Such gravitas.

But have you seen my smile? I have versatility.

But we digress (sorry Sterling). Shut the internet down. Instagram is over. WE WIN. Draino Sam was stunning.

Yes, I am stunning. Thank you. Now rub my stomach.

Maybe it was his slightly plate shaped face. His golden eyes. His overly long whiskers. His ability to emote.  Breathtaking. Of course we need to photograph Draino Sam. There was just one problem:

He was tanked.

The room...it spins..rub my belly...I lurf you...

Blotto. Juiced. Three sheets to the wind.

Draino Sam had recently been fixed and was enjoying the aftereffects of his painkillers. Always a gregarious fellow fond of his belly rubs, drunken Draino Sam was a cuddling monster who couldn't stop flipping over on his back, headbutting or purring. Which made photographing his majestic felineness rather difficult.

Whoaaa. Just....whoaaa.

So you need to take our word on three things:

• Draino Sam is the handsomest kitty ever.
• Volunteer cat photographer Malcolm is a genius with the patience of a saint.
• And we have another male calico kitten who might be future feline supermodel material as well.

I make this feather look good...

He was also slightly plowed on post fixin' painkillers.

Gimme...that...c'mere you...

Follow us on Facebook for more details about him.

These female calico kittens, FYI, were stone cold sober during their photo session. The thing with kittens is a drunk kitten and a sober kitten don't act too terribly different. And they like to be jerks to each other in the most adorable way possible. 

Duck down. I'm cuter. 

If you're interested owning a feline super-model of your very own, Sterling has been waiting a very long time and Draino Sam will be on our webpage when he becomes available.

Methuselah Update And The Current Number Of Eyeballs In Bridget's Home.

People are just awesome. Can we all just stop for a minute and realize that? People are fan-flippin-tastic. You guys are awesome. Bridget (AKA Queen Sucker) is awesome. Our vet staff is awesome. And most of all, Connie is awesome. 

We'll get to Connie. We just needed to have a group hug first. But remember Methuselah?

What'th up?

Thusie for short. Which is pretty apropos as it sounds like 'Susie' if pronounced with your tongue sticking four inches out of your mouth. 

Anyhoo, Thusie, our three-days-older-than-the-earth but lovely, happy, blind little pooch, got adopted by Connie. Who we're pretty sure is the best person EVER.

This is Connie, her other dog Murphy, Bridget and Thusie the day she went home. 

It'th my family!

We're pretty sure Murphy and Thusie are soulmates. 

It'th love. Thoulmates.

But wait, there's more: Thusie is joining a whole family of pooches that are just like her. 

There'th an army of uth.

Connie's house is full of amazing special needs chihuahuas. They all roll together in Connie's Fiat. And yes, several of them are missing legs. 

We could not be happier. If you ever want to believe in the goodness of people, hang out at an animal shelter. 

Speaking of goodness, that brings us to our second update: Development Director Bridget AKA Queen Sucker. If you forgot, Bridget is also an angel to our special needs kids. She was fostering Thusie but also has two dogs and two cats of her own. Between her four pets there fifteen legs and five eyes. Do the math on that. 

Hint: we have two eyes and seven legs between us. And we're half the herd. 

We were pushing really hard to find Thusie a home because Bridget's special brand of fostering was in particular need for another dog coming in. 

Wait for it.

Wait for it....

No eyes, no problem. Can I have a cookie?

Yup. That's Coffee. The world's happiest, most exuberant blind dog. She came to us missing one eye and blind in the other. Because the remaining eye was horribly painful it had to be removed. She was happy before the eye was removed. Now she's perpetually ecstatic. 

That brings the count in Bridget's house to three dogs and two cats,  with a sum total of nineteen legs and five eyes between them. 

Did we mention people are awesome? Coffee already has several suitors and is headed out tomorrow. 

Aaaaand you forgot to mention I got adopted too. So dog-centric...

So to wrap up:

People are awesome. 

Thusie is living happily ever after with the best person ever.

Coffee is pain free and headed to a forever home.

As for Bridget, her pets-to-limbs/eyes ratio isn't going to improve any time soon. There's a tiny chihuahua that came in with severe glaucoma...