Welcome My Newest Rescue, Sabir!

All of my pets, for the most part, have been rescues, whether outright or cast-offs from other people. Through the years I've managed to acquire a dog, two cats, multitudes of hermit crabs and goldfish, and most recently, rats! I love all of them and enjoy sharing them, especially the dog, with other people. I never miss an opportunity to let strangers know that she was a shelter dog, with little hope of being adopted.

A couple weekends ago, we attended the EFBC's Twilight Tour. It's an exotic cat breeding center who works in conservation and awareness. They keep rare and endangered cats and breed for zoos and other centers, NEVER for the exotic pet trade. Here is their site: http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/ Absolutely an amazing place to visit if you get the chance!

Anyway, we were all hyped up after the visit and I was on a high, determined to set out and do whatever I could to help save these exotic cats. (I'm hoping to donate some artwork for fundraising). I got a call when we were in Bakersfield, about an hour and a half away, from my mom, frantic, saying there was a tiny kitten crying up in her tree!

We rushed home and I was panicking. There was a little kitty who needed saving! We arrived home after midnight and I ran to get the ladder, ready to climb up and be a hero. It turned out the kitten wasn't stuck, just freaked out, and a chase ensued as I ran through bushes and through yards, trying to find him.

My first glance of him was a tiny, fuzzy white kitten, covered in dirt and spiderwebs. He was definitely feral, as he wouldn't let us near him. He was also thin, freaked out, and very confused.

My mom has several outdoor cats that she leaves food out for, so it seems all the cat in the tri-county area somehow make their way to her yard. No one else was as worried as I was about the kitty, and I will admit, the fact that he was a Siamese AND a white cat really tugged at my heart. I have a special love for white Siameses, as that's what my first cat Snowflakes was. I still wonder if the other semi-feral Siameses in this area may be descendants of his.

So I ran around, back and forth, at at this time everyone else had given up and gone to bed. Armed with a flashlight, I ran through bushes, getting stuck in several rosebushes. The little guy was quick! I finally saw a white fluffy thing under a bush and thought, Aha! Got you! and reached for it only to see that it was a dead bird.

Finally the little kitty ended up back in our yard and climbed inside JD's truck, underneath! I have never seen the underside of a GMC Sonoma, but I got to that night. By this time it was past 2 am, and the poor little kitty was just beyond frightened and tired out. I very carefully reached up under the truck, grabbed him, and ran inside.

He is a lilac-point Siamese, and was about five weeks old at the time I found him.

The smallest room in the house is the office, so it became the kitten room. The little guy quickly made a bed inside our bottom drawer.



He was most definitely feral, barely letting us touch him. For the first few days we had to very slowly and carefully grab him, slowly letting him get more and more used to us.

He went to the vet and aside from fleas and dirty ears, was in pretty good health. I have assumed he's from the trailer park across the street from our neighborhood, where many stray cats come from. Sadly, there is a busy road between us and there are often dead cats out there. Recently, I saw two kittens that I'm pretty sure are probably relatives.

Our first family portrait.





I had no intentions of keeping the kitten, but after the long struggle outside to catch him, I became ridiculously attached and of course he's going to stay with me. I finally settled on the name Sabir, the people whom the region of Siberia was named after. The kitty looks nice and icy and Arctic to me.



We have really been working to socialize him and he's coming around!



He doesn't always run and hide when we come in the room, a huge improvement!



I discovered he shares my love of strawberry ice cream!



Like the lynx he reminds me of, he's a good little hunter.



And he loves his toys!!





Let me close with my plug to always spay and neuter your animals, whether they are indoors or not. In seven years, one cat and her offspring can make hundreds of thousands of cats. For every lucky little kitten like this one, there are thousands who are not as fortunate. If you're considering getting a new cat, please consider shelters and rescue groups. Though pet stores say they don't get their animals from puppy and kitten mills, that often is the case.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition--The Tom Family

I am not one to sit and be glued to the TV for two hours, but I somehow found myself doing just that last night.

I hardly watch the show anymore, even though there was an episode filmed in Fresno a few months back. But the opening of this particular episode really caught my attention. It started out talking about a woman who had adopted several special-needs children, and one had just passed away. As some of you know, I have been considering adoption for several years now. I'll write more about that in a separate post, but I've felt really led to adopt from Russia. A couple of the girls on the show last night were adopted from Russia, and what was more, they were born without legs and walked on their hands.

What struck me about this family wasn't all the obvious disabilites (or different abilities) and physical features. It was their overall attitude. It was a house full of girls, a family still reeling from the loss of their older brother just before Christmas 2004. But their attitude was what really struck me. They were all happy, cheerful and positive. It was hard for the girls to get around, and they had to climb the stairs on their hands. But none of them were bitter, none were depressed. They had an amazing aura about them.

Of course, the TV show sent them someplace fun. In this case, it was Disney World. They then set about completely demo-ing the old 70's house. In its place they built a beautiful, Craftsman-era, three story home!

First of all, when you're from California, you're used to one or two story ranch, stucco homes. A three story home is unheard of, which is probably one reason why it was so exciting! They also built this beautiful, classic-looking, but completely modern home. They even included an elevator, which was great for the wheelchair-users, and the others who still had trouble getting around.

And of course, when you're from California, what do you need more in your backyard than a pool? The crew even put in a pool, complete with cool water fountains.

In the end, the house was just completely amazing. Of course, the family just loved it. Each bedroom was perfectly tailored to their needs and tastes. Two of the girls in wheelchairs (the ones from Russia) got to claim the entire third story as their own little "apartment." What teenage girls wouldn't want that!?

What struck me the most was really everyone's attitudes. No one whined, no one complained, and no one felt sorry for themselves. It really put into perspective how I've been feeling. For over a year, I've been suffering with chronic headaches and sinus pain. The pain never really completely goes away, and though I try to maintain a positive outlook, it does get me down. It's a struggle to even get to the laptop on days like today. But seeing how these kids deal with what's been given to them--things that are much more challenging than pain--has really opened my eyes.

The whole show was really moving for us both to watch. I've never, ever seen JD cry, so that was a big deal. If you get a chance, see if you can find some of it to watch online. If you're interested, here's a link to some more information.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/04/NBG8FFF0TP1.DTL

Information about special needs adoption:

http://special-needs.adoption.com/

http://www.adopting.org/Family_Builders.html