On January 25, 2003, we picked up our next kitten. We were told she was a Siamese; I expected a lanky, yowly cat with crossed eyes and a narrow head. Instead we got a plush-coated, stocky-looking, quiet cat with beautiful blue (uncrossed) eyes. We named her Sapphire. She may be a Siamese cross such as a "Snowshoe."

Sapphire in hunting mode

and

Sapphire being patient with humans

She has an upper respiratory infection (as did all the rest). We'll probably have her a week or two. She is an installation artist like SueBob. Her first work was "Mouse Rampant on Green Water." The work was a mixed media piece of green fur mouse, water, and square silver plastic bowl. Alas, we have no pictures of her masterpiece.

Update: She has been returned, but that was quite awhile ago, I can't remember the exact date. Between then and now, we adopted a puppy, visit the Chatka page for more details on that dubious decision!

On March 20th, 2003 'Hamilton', a two year old male tabby became our foster. He had a lingering eye infection. He was the perfect lap cat. We had him for 5 weeks. He stayed at the Humane Society for another month before he went on Adoption Avenue. I think they just had so many cats they didn't have room to show him.
He was adopted in a day.

Hamilton

May 9th, 2003 we became the foster parents for Helena (a 3 year old tabby), and her two kittens, (about 4 weeks old). We call her boys Waldorf and Wilson. Helena is also caring for Wilma T., a teeny tiny Calico who was abandoned by her birth mother - she can't be more than a week or so old!

Waldorf (black & white) and Wilson (tabby)

Get 'em off me!

After a time, (and several sleepless nights!), it became obvious Helena was nearing the end of her nursing days. Poor little Wilma T wasn't getting enough food. We took Wilma T back to the Humane Society where she was put with another mother and her litter. . .I don't know what happened to her after that. Hopefully, she survived and was happily adopted.

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Harley and Whisper came to us with their mother, Libby. Libby was a pale torti stray. She was not in great shape when we got her; her fur was rough and patchy. Soon she became friendly and was soon ready to go back. Unfortunately, little Whisper's infection got into his lungs and the little tabby had to be put to sleep. Harley, his older sister got over her infection quickly and was absolutely fearless.

Harley

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Billings had the usual upper respiratory infection, but got better quickly.

Billings

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Becky bottle feeds Cheyenne as Denver looks on.

Becky, Denver and Chatka

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Miles and Dillon were with us for nearly 4 months. They came to us as tiny little kittens (in late Nov 2003) and left as strapping young boys (Feb 2004). These two little guys were hard to let go!

Here's Becky with the Boys.

This is after a few weeks, but they are still small enough to hold together.

The Boys. In this photo you can see Miles has a problem with his left eye, hence his nickname 'Blinky'. This is why they were with us so long, it took a while for his eye to heal.

Dillon.

Katie and the boys 'playing'.

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Peyton is a 4 month old Border Collie mix - he has a little problem with a leg that he will probably grow out of - with the proper exercise, and of course, TLC. He's very sweet - but not at all a door mat. He keeps biting Chatka on her lips - now that's gotta hurt!

Not only is Peyton our first Canine Foster, but he is also the first animal that we have not named.

Peyton

Peyton and Chatka playing. Finally a playmate for Chatka.

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Sally

Sally and Chatka.

Miles is a 2-month-old mix who arrived on 6/9/04. He is supposed to be a sheltie mix, but he sure looks like a lab mix to me. He is on the shy end of the normal puppy spectrum, but mostly a normal pup. Both big dogs like to play with him. Sue named him.

Update: Miles became very friendly with people, Chatka, and Sally. After a week we took him back and he was adopted almost immediately. He hadn't yet got the hang of housebreaking, but was adorable.

Miles and Chatka

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Sparky arrived on 8/2/04. He had a severe paw injury that his owners "couldn't afford" to treat, so they let it get severely infected. He had to have his back left leg amputated. All the pain made him aggressive, so he was supposed to be a real "project dog." However, he's been very affectionate and not at all aggressive since leaving the clinic. We are doing behavioral therapy with him, though. His stump has healed well. He has a terrible cough that makes him sound like a sea lion. This means he and Chatka can't play yet. Poor Chatka.

Update 9/23/2004: Sparky was soon well enough to play with Chatka. We did behavioral sessions with him at the shelter to get him used to the facility and the people. After almost 2 months, Sparky was both well and well-behaved enough to return to the WHS. Actually, he was fine weeks earlier, but they left him with us for a while. We were sad to see him go. What a great little guy!

Update 12/2004: Sparky was the featured animal of the fall Wisconsin Humane Society Critter Chronicles. He was on the cover, on the next page, on the donations envelope, and in his own center pull-out. By this time he had actually been adopted. I had the pullout on the door of my office with a post-it saying "our foster!" One of my students saw it and we talked about him. Last night she told me that she got to meet him in person. She went to a party for the Native Plant Society hosted by Sparky's new family. They are really happy to have him and he's doing great in his country home. We were really happy to hear that!

Update 7/2005: Sparky's "forever family" invited us out to visit him. It was great to see what a wonderful home he has. His family is great and he has lots of space to play. This is the big payoff of fostering.  

Sparky with cone

Sparky and Sue

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Bobby arrived on 9/22/04 and went back 2 days later. He was a hound mix. I think he was about 2.5 months old. We were just assessing him for any food aggression. The WHS staff had done a great job of curing him of this problem though, and he showed none at all. We did give him a bath, trim his nails, and help him get over some minor jumping up and mouthing problems. He and Chatka took turns annoying each other.(BB)

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Gloria trying to break into the 'snack bar'.

Gloria with Becky.

Gloria hiding her face (and being cute and adorable, of course)

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It was hard to get a good picture of Pepper. Either they were both running around or mingled together; either way difficult to get that perfect shot, but I'm still trying. (SR)

Pepper and Chatka, Who's Who???

Well, this doesn't help to clear that up!

Pepper head shot.

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Sparky 2

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Lucky

This dog intimidated even Chatka! Now that's something. Lucky was the first foster that, on average, got the better of Chatka while playing. Finally, a dog more 'dog' than Chatka. Lucky had no serious problems or issues; she went back to the WHS pretty quickly. (SR)

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BIG Chow. I have to admit - this size dog intimidates me. But Nate was a very lovable guy. He was recovering from a broken leg, and went back to the WHS on Jan 10th, 2005. (SR)

Nate

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But we prefer 'Bootser', 'Bootinator' or 'BooBoo'

Bootsie (and Chatka's Blockhead)

Bootsie is an unfortunate name, (what are some people thinking??) but she was the sweetest girl and the perfect playment for Chatka. She had socialization issues that were quickly corrected (due to her history, she was a backyard dog, and was afraid to come into the house until we reassured her it was okay to come in) She's a very loving pooch; more of a people dog, unlike Chatka, who is most definitely a dog's dog. It's nice to have a dog that actually seeks out human companionship. She came to us in mid-January 2005 and is still with us as of today, (Sunday, Jan 30th, 2005) (SR)

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Tiny and her 4 pups. Little Prescott is just barely in the picture on the left, curled up by Tiny is Jerome, the largest of the puppies. Curled up below Jerome is Sedona, the only female in the litter, and standing is Tucson, the loudest of 'em all.

Feeding time, for everyone!

The adorable puppies. Good thing they're cute, because they are a major pain in the butt. Prescott has his head in the food bowl and is curled around Tucson; the other two are Jerome and Sedona. Sedona is the darker one in back. Jerome is laying off by himself, he's the big boy in the litter.

Jerome - he's the largest of the puppies, coming in at 4 lbs 4 oz.

Tucson - he's the loud mouth of the group.

Sedona - she's a sweet girl, quiet but not at all a door mat - and she has the most beautiful blue eyes.

Prescott - he's got a handy identifying white spot on his back and a white blaze on his face. Like Sedona, he has blue eyes. He's also the smallest pup, weighing just 2 lbs 11 oz. (on Feb 12th, 2005)

Chatka and Prescott meet for the first time. Chatka is such a good foster sister AND foster mother.

The Puppy Bowl - if you have puppies, you definitely need one of these!

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Rainier ( 4 mo. old male) and Raven, (his sister) came to us on Friday, April 1st 2005. They are very sweet dogs and good pals for Chatka. They even respect the cats. They are with us solely for socialization purposes.

Rainier (top) and Raven enjoying the sunshine.

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Shep is a 7 year old Keeshond mix suffering from a mild (?) case of 'Separation Anxiety'. He came to us on April 27th, 2005.

Shep went back to the humane society after a two days. It was clear we would not be able to cure his separation anxiety since we are both gone during the day. Shep needs a little bit more attention that what we could give him, but he's a very sweet pooch and I'm glad to have met him.

Shep.

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Lucy came to us on April 30th, 2005. She has a severe case of 'scare-baby' syndrome. In other words, she is in desperate need of socialization. She is afraid of us, but she likes Chatka and the cats OK. She did show some improvement after just one day with us, but today (May 8th), she shows improvement one minute, and the next reverts right back to where she was. So it is clear, we will have Lucy for at least several more weeks.

Lucy.

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Brownie came to us with a broken leg sometime during May 2005. Her leg did not have a cast or anything, it just kind of hung there. But, it didn't stop this little firecracker from jumping over her gate, rough-housing with Chatka, and wreaking havoc on our bathroom.

After she left us, we found out later she had her injured leg amputated. I'm sure she's much better off without it.

She was featured in the August/Sept issue of 'Critter Chronicles' with her new family. Another happy ending!!

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Lilly Bear (not our name!) came to us on July 14th, 2005. She has a big head, just like Chatka.

She was on a special diet, and needed socialization, other than that she's just fine.

Note her blue tongue and black belly!

Lilly Bear and Becky, her foster momma.

Lilly Bear.

Lilly Bear and Chatka.

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These 4 kittens came to us on August 25, 2005. They were given to us for socialization and soon became very friendly. They came with names, but the 'who's who' notes weren't too clear. The one I was calling "Bucko" for three days was actually "Bean" and vise versa. Bean had grayish markings and tabby stripes. He was the most affectionate and biggest trouble-maker. Bucko was next in line for both. He demanded petting at times. Rufio ate about his body weight in canned food every day. Panther was the only girl. She was quieter than the rest, but enjoyed attention when the boys weren't hogging it.

The Gang. Note LILLY BEAR's "work" on the molding has not yet been repaired.

Chatka, and one of the little kittens; I still can't really tell them apart, except for Bucko (or is he Bean?) I dunno.
(Note: 'target butt' syndrome')

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What other creature or creatures will be coming our way?

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