Kittens! And Other Second Chances

My neighbor fosters dogs and cats until she finds them homes.  I have her to thank for my cat Harley (as if I needed help finding cats!)  Several other neighbors have dogs from her, and she didn't even have to twist arms; she's good at finding the right people for the right pet.  This was her most recent success story a few days ago:

Chewy was a four year old head-strong, rambunctious dog rejected by the shelter because they couldn't handle him.  That means he was headed straight for euthanasia.  But my neighbor took him and had him evaluated by a trainer who snatched him up, saying he had the perfect disposition and abilities he looks for when training  tracking dogs.  Chewy will soon be a search dog for missing people, the dogs often used to find Alzheimer patients who wander off and get lost.  A close call and a happy ending because someone bothered to look for an alternative.


This is Whitney, the latest stray cat.  She arrived with perfect house manners and a loving disposition.  Unfortunately, she'd been a little too free with her love, and she was pregnant.  (A lot of romance novels start this way!)  Sunday she delivered these five kittens.  They will all be adopted into good homes by eight weeks, but for now I get to enjoy watching them grow.  And because kittens are an automatic dose of feel-good, I'll share with you here.

Five days old, and looking more like rats than cats.  One will be like mom, long-haired and black.  A couple are tuxedo patterned, one is all gray, and the little tiger on the right is a black tabby who, we think, will be a big handsome hunk.

One of the tuxedoes.  Stay tuned - more unbearable cuteness to come!