A few months ago my girlfriend and I were sitting on our balcony when we hear this little sweetheart meowing below. With one kind look from us, she climbed up a tree and into our lives. She was so loving and friendly that we assumed she must’ve been someone’s pet and sent her on her way after a while.
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Every few nights she’d return and every time she came back, she looked skinnier and skinner. Eventually we bought cat food for her visits and soon thereafter she coaxed her way into sharing our bed. She is such an absolute sweetheart and so well-behaved we began to feel guilty that we’d “stolen” someone’s beloved pet. We called every nearby vet, put up signs all around the neighborhood, in grocerystores, pet stores, pharmacies, and many other local “public” places, but never got any calls. Even the vet agreed that she was too well socialized to be feral. He suggested that we let her roam freely in case she was simply lost. After a few weeks of her coming back to us with increasing frequency the vet gave us his support to declare her as our own.
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It might not be clear in the picture, but her left ear is a mess. It is missing the tip and has more than a few notches and chunks missing from it. Both we and vet aren’t sure if these are from a fight, or signs that she was part of a catch-fix-and release program common for feral cats in the area (they mark the feral cats they’ve caught, fixed, and released by snipping off the tip of the left ear, but the other notches and tears make it unclear if this is what happened to her).
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The first night she slept in our bed, my girlfriend jokingly started calling her JWow, a reference to the character JWoww on the Jersey Shore, due to this kitty’s propensity to come over, sleep with a stranger, then sneak out in the morning. Having never seen the show myself (and thinking it a lame reference), we tried desperately to come up with a more appropriate name, but nothing else seemed to fit her, so JWow she has become. I told the vet this story and he said, “So your girlfriend came up with the name? How serious is this relationship? You might be stuck with this name longer than you’re stuck with the girlfriend.” But the vet too has come to love her, and the name. Sometimes, when embarassed, we lie and tell people her name is Jezebel.
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My girlfriend once visited a psychic who told her that her beloved (and dead) childhood pet would return, and kitty here looks exactly like that that cat (a tortoise shell named Mr. Jingles despite actually being a female). I don’t buy into that sort of thing, but for the girlfriend, this cat was not merely a random blessing, but a prophesy come true. All I know is that I love this little critter so much, the way she curls up with me when I sleep, and the way she greets me with such joy and excitement whenever I come home. We spend hours a day playing games together and the amount of joy in my life has increased dramatically because of her.
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We tried for a bit to convert her to an indoor-only cat due to the proximity of some busy streets, but she’s spent too much of her life outside to give it up and she finally won the war (yes, she has her outdoor shots). She is now the queen of our apartment complex and is loved tremendously by everyone here (in fact, short-term kidnappings by neighbors who adore her is a bit of a problem). I’ve seen her turn many a grown man into a bubbling mess with her undeniable charms and sweetness.
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That being said, we’re the first to admit that, at least in pictures, she isn’t the most conventionally cute kitty. In fact, she looks quite evil and gremlin-like at night, scaring the crap out of us on a few occasions when she first started to live with us. But, in person,her loving nature is so overwhelming no one can help but declare her the cutest thing ever after a few minutes of belly rubs.
Cat Blogging
Early Morning Open Thread: Three Amigos
A WEAKLING, A WALK-ON & A DRIVE-BY
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We’ve always had rescue kitties, from the pound when I was a youngster and a series of walk-ons in later years, more recently at the Dear Friend & Conscience’s home in the mountains.
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Kimba wasn’t actually a walk on because he was too weak at even six weeks or so to do much beyond standing up. His feral mother was trying to keep him alive in the woods behind the house and when she deposited him under the deck, the DF&C snatched him. His one blue and one golden eye were glued shut because of a discharge. He was riddled with fleas, was all skin and bones and not long for the world. Today Kimba is going on eight years old. He’s a couple cards short of a full deck, probably as a result of his mother’s parlous health when he was in utero, but he’s a love bug…
Early Morning Open Thread: Very Young Rescues
From commentor Bella:
I boarded my horse at a county park in CA, which became a dumping ground for unwanted cats and dogs. A couple of us joined forces and started trapping cats, fixing them, and getting the tame ones to an adoption group. We got over 120 cats and a handful of dogs out of the park (and fed the rest.) A man who walked his dog there knew that I did this, and flagged me down one cold Sunday morning to let me know he’d found a tiny kitten crying by the gate. I had no trouble finding the little tabby, 3 weeks old at most, because it was not so much crying as shrieking. My guess is mama was moving the litter and was late coming back for this one.
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I put her in my car and ran into Walmart to get some kitten milk and a syringe to try to feed her, which mostly resulted in milk all over the kitten, as she never did stop wailing. I called our rescue lady and was soon on my way over there. As luck would have it, she had a nursing mama who was willing to accept the newcomer, and the kitten was soon warm and fed, and a couple of months later she was adopted to a good home.
Early Morning Open Thread: Very Young RescuesPost + Comments (41)
Early Morning Open Thread: Foster Cats
From commentor FoxinSocks:
About a year and a half ago, I found out from a friend about three cats who were going to be shot and killed on a farm in West Virginia. I was unemployed at the time and exceedingly broke, but no one else would help them, so me and my friend made the short trip across the state line to pick them up. So there I was, with three sick and malnourished but very grateful kitties in my bathroom. Luckily for me, I was referred to the wonderful folks at the Montgomery County MD SPCA who helped me vet and place the cats. Now, over a year later, I’m a foster with the MCSPCA with a new group of kitties, but times are tough, as bad as I’ve ever seen, and all the rescue groups are struggling…
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This is Chip, an eight-year-old Tabby who was given up by his family. The family claimed he couldn’t be handled and that he had litter box issues, but he’s been great for me. Heck, I can barely get him off my lap! I call Chip the WB Frog cat though, because at home, he’s this loving, devoted cat and at the shows, he’s miserable and grumpy. So I tell people how wonderful he is and then they see him in person and he’s nothing like I’ve described. But I swear, he’s a friendly boy!
Animal Rescue Open Thread
All animals should be living large like this:
Not like this:
Click here to donate directly to Charlie’s Angels Animal Rescue (they accept paypal!), or visit the Balloon Juice store and pick out an item or two- all proceeds go to Charlie’s Angels. Your help saves animals, and unlike a lot of charities, I can assure you that every single penny these ladies at CAAR get is spent on the animals.
Early Morning Open Thread: Full House
From commentor IlsaLund:
This is Clary, AKA Miss Pants. She was originally adopted as a kitten by a neighbor. The neighbor died suddenly and Clary was trapped in her apartment for four days before being freed. No one wanted her and I’d already said no because we had two 17 yr olds at the time and I thought bringing in a young cat would be too traumatic for them. But when my husband heard the sad tale, he insisted that we adopt her. When he went to take her home, he and Clary took one look at each other and they both fell madly in love. She’s been with us for four years now. I love her madly, too, but she will always be Daddy’s Girl.
Luci was adopted 2 yrs ago, along with her companion, Princess. I found them on Petfinders after the two elderly cats died in 2008. Clary was devastated to lose them and miserable being an only cat. Plus, Clary was so attached to my husband that I sort of felt l needed a cat for me. I wanted one young cat and I got two seniors, now about 11 years old. Luci is the tiniest, but she is Top Cat. She spends most of her time sleeping in my closet, but when she feels like it, she runs and plays like a kitten.
Inside Baseball for Nerds: “American Bridge”
Greg Sargent, at the WaPo’s Plum Line, says that “David Brock’s big-money outside group gains steam“:
It looks like David Brock is getting more serious about building a powerful apparatus on the left to go head-to-head with the flood of outside money conservative groups are planning to pump into the 2012 elections.
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I’m told that Brock has made some major staff shifts within his Media Matters empire in preparation for 2012, shifting key staff over to a new third-party spending vehicle he’s created to spend big money on campaigns this cycle, which is called American Bridge.
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Brock will move Media Matters’ top communications director, Chris Harris, over to American Bridge, and he’s installing a new president and CEO at Media Matters, Matthew Butler. That will allow Brock to focus more energy on building out the new effort and enlisting major donors to finance it.
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Also: In another indication that Brock is shifting his empire harder into politics, he has enlisted one of the key architects of MoveOn’s growth over the last few years — operative Ilyse Hogue — to oversee a new Media Matters operation dedicated specifically to taking action against right wing media…
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Brock is a major Beltway player, and if his effort gains traction, it could have a real impact on the 2012 campaigns, helping to offset the lopsided advantage conservative groups are expected to enjoy. It’s also a sign that Washington’s power liberal types are getting serious about figuring out how to navigate the new, post-Citizens United landscape, which has clearly put them at a disadvantage.
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More broadly, the shift suggests that the brand of media criticism practiced by Media Matters is shading into outright guerrilla-style political activism against conservative groups and right wing media outlets alike — another symptom of the broader breakdown of old categories that will continue to roil our politics for the foreseeable future.
Interesting, if true. Since this is the Washington Post, y’all know to read the comments at your own risk.
Inside Baseball for Nerds: “American Bridge”Post + Comments (35)