Feline Introductions

It's Saturday afternoon, and I just luxuriated in a brief cat nap with LoverBoy (one of the kittens) and Romeo (one of the adult cats) curled up beside me. Yes, the kittens are mixing with the adult felines and shockingly, it's working out pretty well. I kept the kittens separate for the first two months while I got them fixed and made sure they didn't have any health issues.

Now, I've started letting them run around the house for an hour or two each day, under close supervision. The older felines have taken it pretty well -- the kittens are very active and rambunctious chasing each other around the house at full speed. Only one of the kittens, Charlie, is a bit scared. He's been slower to leave his safe room and explore the rest of the house and he makes cute squeaky noises so other cats don't get too close. When I want to calm things down, I break out the food (either dry food that I shake or wet food where I open the can), and the noise is enough to get the kittens running back to their room for a meal. Then they're happy to stay there and curl up on their kitty condo or the blanket in front of the window facing the backyard (photo below). They like the security of having their own room and cuddling up together. And the big cats like it when they get a break from the commotion.

This also tells me that the kittens will adapt well to their new homes -- they're curious and playful and getting along well with the other cats.

Getting Serious About Adoption Postings

Our holiday fun is over -- I had lots of help wrapping and unwrapping gifts, and the kittens were appreciative of their holiday cat toys and scratchers. Now they are starting to clamor for me to find their permanent loving homes. I am letting them roam around the house for a few hours each day with the adult felines, so they're getting some exercise and entertainment, but they want to meet and bond with their new adoptive parents. I thought we were getting listed on Petfinder through an LA rescue group I found, but I sent in the info a week before Christmas and nothing has been posted yet, so I'm trying other avenues.

Petfinder -- many say that this is the main/best listing for finding homes. The site seems to be run very professionally (by a team of dedicated volunteers). They have a "Classified section" where anyone can post, but from what I can tell that is not as helpful as listing through a Rescue group that gives better visibility and is more part of the site search system. It looks like I just found another rescue group to sponsor our little mission and get the kittens' vital statistics and glamorous photos up for all the world to see.

Local Outlets -- I also posted photos and descriptions at local pet stores. The folks at Petmania in Burbank are wonderful. Gave me lots of good advice about posting on Craigslist, which I'll do next. They quickly found nice homes for the five small 7-week-old kittens I dropped off there a week before Christmas. They are also the ones that introduced me to a very good dry cat food -- Advanced Pet Diet (that uses chicken meal and no byproducts) -- which they carry and I couldn't find at Petco.

We're hoping to have more successful adoption news shortly.