Basil & Charlie

The twins have returned home, and we are working on getting them all settled in. Since people aren’t beating my door down to adopt two big strapping boy kitties, they will be staying with us. They are still sequestered in the cat room (L’s old bedroom, which now contains my exercise equipment, and lots of cat trees, toys and window views). Like most declawed cats, they are insecure and are “slinkers”. They are finally starting to walk normally in their room. Once they feel secure enough not to slink around in there, I will start introducing the other cats one at a time for very short play dates. Another sign that they are ready to start meeting the other members of their family will be when they start playing ‘footsies’ under the door with the other cats. They are fully aware of the presence of others and peer out curiously at the cats in the hallway when we open their bedroom door.

When we picked them up Wednesday, we met at a halfway point in IL, so it wasn’t such a long trip for us this time. I was really distraught when I saw them pull up with the kids in tow. I was hoping it would just be the dad, with whom I’ve been talking. I was envisioning horrible scenes with the kids (girl is around 7, boy is around 4) weeping over their cats, and I really was not up for dealing with it. Much to my surprise, the children were completely non-phased by the cats leaving. Not a single one of the whole group showed an inkling of sadness, nor did any of them interact with the cats. Dad seemed to feel some guilt, but that was about the extent of it. They simply handed me the carrier, stood there while I transferred them to my carrier, and hopped back in their car to continue family fun night. Wow. When I pulled the little boys out of their carrier, which they were trying their best to hide in the back of, they looked out and saw their family on the other side of my car window, and looked extremely confused and distressed. My heart hurt for them!

I don’t think I will ever place an animal with a non-animal rights person again. Other than my parents and a tiny handful of people I know very well, I simply cannot trust anyone with such an innocent, precious being. All of these people always have their limit of animals or more, so in other words, I am just done with placement. People are not worthy of animals for the most part.

There were no flags whatsoever with these people. They were screened well and were recommended by a friend. They checked out well—they had another older cat with some physical issues and they sought out the necessary vet care immediately. The kids were happy to have the kittens to play with, were very gentle with them, and each got to name “their” kitten. The boys were named Petey and Charlie. Neither boy knew their name. Neither boy illustrated any understanding of any words at all, which is very strange after having lived with them for almost eight months! Even the ferals I have brought in have picked up their names, the term I use to call them for treats, and some other common cat words and phrases. They must have been basically left on their own in that big house, which is a tragedy, because when these two left me, they were the two most cuddly, affectionate kittens I have ever met!

In this case it turned out well that the boys didn’t know their names at all, because I wasn’t sure how to handle having two cats named Petey. Since my Petey knows his name very well and has the honor of being named after Peter Young, I certainly couldn’t change his. We kept Charlie’s name and changed Petey to Basil. L liked that name because it is close to ‘Baxter’. Half the time I say it, I end up saying Baxter instead. My brain really needs to get with it, so I don’t confuse this poor boy. We are working with them on name recognition, and I would like them to learn the right names!

Both boys are a bit overweight, which isn’t good at their very young age. Basil is bigger than Charlie, but both could lose a pound or two. They’ve been eating cheap, crappy food, which makes them feel hungrier and fills them up with a lot of empty calories. Once I get them fully switched over to our much better food, I’m hoping they start to drop a little weight. It really annoys me that they were fed such cheap, crappy food. It is so important to the quality and length of an animal’s life that they eat the best quality food you can afford. I realize that not everyone can afford a high-quality food (but perhaps a little re-prioritizing would allow for better life for the animals), but I’ve seen their home, the cars they drive, etc. They are far from able to afford a high-quality diet for such a small number of animals.

Finally, as I was getting ready to leave, I asked if they could tell me about the boys’ personalities, likes/dislikes, little quirks, and anything else they could think of that would help make their transition easier. All they could come up with was to tell me they like to eat. Really? After eight months, that’s all they could think of?!! When I took the kittens to them initially, I had only known them for four months, and still managed to have tons of details about each one (down to which color of fuzzy mouse each prefers to play with—seriously). Even now, with as many animals as I have, if someone were to ask me that type of question, they had better be prepared to listen for a good long time. I would give you more details about each than you could possibly imagine. They are my babies, and it’s one of my top five priorities in life to ensure that I know each animal individually and can therefore give them the best life possible.

I need to get away from the rescue work and back to being an abolitionist animal rights activist. There are lots of people who will step up to help place the cute little dogs and cats, but not so many willing to get down in the trenches of activism that will effect change in the right direction. I must be strong! I keep trying to get back to basics but then get sucked back into the rescue stuff. I’m feeling very disgusted with our species these days, and since I feel that 99% of humans do not deserve a companion animal, it would make placement nearly impossible for me. I used to have faith in our screening process, but I don’t see myself ever being able to make a confident placement again.

But…back to the twins. It is a little disconcerting how much they look like Ivan. Particularly Basil. Their dispositions couldn’t be any more different (thank Cthulu!!). It might make it a little tricky for our guests to know which of the three are asses and shouldn’t be touched (Ivan). Ivan is not going to be happy to have two more energetic youngsters around, and I’m curious to see if he reacts differently to them at all, because they looks so similar to him.

We had a catnip party in their room yesterday. They had fun and were very cute rolling around like kittens, even though they are ginormous. All the flecks on the carpet in these photos is catnip—not general nastiness. I don’t want to upset them by vacuuming in their room yet, so it’s just going to have to stay in the carpet until they are feeling secure.

<-- They love the laser toy!

(Basil has a blue collar, and Charlie has green).