Support Locally Sourced Kittens

Mrs. Homegrown here:
Our friend, Anne–who stuck us gifted us with our own kitten a couple of months ago, now has a pair of rescued kitties looking for a home. They came to her in bad shape, their tiny little bodies crawling with fleas, so much so that the water of their first bath turned blood red. One was very, very sick with some sort of intestinal bug. He didn’t seem likely to make it, but recovered, thanks to Anne’s 24-hour care.
But those dark days are over. These authentic HaFo SaFo street kitties (HaFo SaFo is a neighborhood in LA, and a blog)  are now healthy, happy, darn cute and ready for permanent homes. They are well socialized to humans, as well as other cats, dogs, chickens, rabbits, ducks and turtles.
The kittens are siblings. They have very similar markings, the difference being that one has crisp-edged markings, the other blurry-edged markings. Therefore, the kittens are provisionally known as Sharp and Blurry, or Dodge and Blur. Sharp is a girl, Blurry a boy.  I believe they could be adopted together or separately.
Anne is happy to give them free to a good home. If the adopter wanted to make some contribution toward medical expenses, that would be cool–because Blurry needed about $100 worth of medicine–but it’s not at all required. Most important is that they get a home. 
Remember, kittens are a most excellent source of low-tech entertainment and chemical-free rodent control, an ideal addition to any homestead–guaranteed to be useful throughout the zombie apocalypse!
If you’re interested, send us email at [email protected], and we’ll pass you on to Anne. 
Please be sure to pass this on to any cat-susceptible friends you might have, too. Thanks for your help finding these little guys a home!
Note: Erik is worried this sets a precedent, and that Root Simple will soon become Pet Simple, because we’ll be inundated by requests to advertise pets. So let’s lay this out now–we won’t. That’s not our mission. But Anne is our friend, and she lives just few blocks away from us, and rescued our cat as well as Blurry and Sharp from the immediate neighborhood. Therefore our kitten and these are siblings, of a sort.
Speaking of which…

***

Update on our kitten:

Our kitten is now confirmed to be female. She’s about 12 weeks old now, still very small, compared to adult cats, but all graceful and cat-proportioned (as the photo above illustrates). The toddling, cuddly kitten stage is far behind. Now she spends 80% of her waking hours practicing killing things in ever more spectacular ways, and the remaining 20% getting into trouble by exploring where she should not (knocking over things, missing jumps, falling off ledges, getting coated with dust bunnies). As I said, kittens are excellent source of low-tech entertainment.
As for a name, we’ve been having trouble naming her. Nothing sticks. As of now, she’s named Phoebe, after the formidable, insect-eating birds that stalk our backyard. She’s as much of a hunter as any phoebe–and black, too. Her surname is WoadNyx, because she really needs a witchy name, since she seems to be born of 100% pure Halloween cat stock: Phoebe WoadNyx.
My allergies were really doing well, but just in the last couple of days I’ve turned into a walking snot factory. However, it may be seasonal allergies. It’s so hard to tell. I have faith that this will pass. It has to, really, because Phoebe and Erik are in the midst of a shameless love affair, and I don’t think I can make him choose between us. When she hears him come in, she runs to greet him, like a dog. She sleeps on top of him, purring like an outboard motor. It’s ridiculous. I--I am nothing but the sniffling human who brings her dinner, a fine enough thing to sit upon when The Great One is not around. 
Cats.

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(the above is a contribution to this post by the demon herself)

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22 Comments

  1. I’m amused by Phoebe’s love affair with your husband because I too have a cat usurping my hubby’s attentions. Interestingly, she looked much like Phoebe as a kitten. She hears “Daddy’s” car from the corner and greets him at the door. Ignores the rest of us completely all day, unless she’s hungry. She will lie on her back at his feet waiting for a belly rub and follows him around the house like a puppy. Very odd cat. Her collar has “Daddy’s Princess” on it and she knows it. 😉

  2. @Eeyore: OMG. Erik calls her “My Princess.” Is it some kind of feline mind control, an evil plot perhaps facilitated by infection with toxoplasma gondii?

  3. Funny, My policy is cats go outdoors, as do all animals. I had the rightness of my stance confirmed when Olivia Walton banned animals from the house, all animals. You know the Waltons did things the right way! I have never been around an animal that did not trip me sooner or later. I even have the hens tripping me up. Why do animals walk right on, between, or under the feet of humans? Really cute kittnes! I am soooo allergic to cats.

  4. @Green Zebra: It is kitten season, or just past high kitten season, here in LA. When our kitten was found, Homegrown Neighbor found 4, then as soon as Anne gave us our kitten, she got another left on her doorstep. She got that one a home quick, then got these two. Seriously. Cats are coming out of our eyeballs in this neighborhood. I just want to shout from the rooftop: “People neuter your g$%d$%^ cats!!!!!”

    It wouldn’t do any good, though. Our cat is probably originates from a classic cat lady/hoarder/health dept. emergency-type house. Lots of black cats around there. She ain’t neutering nothing.

    @Parsimony: This one loves to dart right between my feet while I’m walking. She could be trying to kill me so she can have Erik to herself.

  5. Anne should think about fixing the kittens and passing the cost onto the adoptee. It’s a pretty standard aspect of kitten adoption these days, but is such an important step in keeping situations like theirs from continually arising! They seem close to the age when the procedure becomes safe/effective (but I’m not certain).

    P.S. I by no means think of myself as more knowledgable than Anne when it comes to kitten rescue/adoption, I was just worried because there was no mention of fixing cats.

  6. @Zach: I should have put in the main post that the one requirement Anne has for adoption is that the adopter must swear they’ll have the cat fixed. I think in shelters they’ll do it as young as 3 months, but I know our vet likes to wait until 5 months or so, when their parts are bigger.

  7. I hope the kittens are adopted as a pair and kept together. We adopted three sister kittens years ago and they are an absolute pleasure. They sleep in one big “fur pile” and the love they give each other every day is an amazing education. I hope this set of siblings doesn’t get split up. The new owners would be missing out terribly.

  8. I love the photo of your kitty – she looks pissed off at what has happened to her.

    I live in the midwest, in the country, with my 4 dogs and 2 cats, all strays. It disappoints me to no end when people don’t spay or neuter.

    I have decided to run for president, as I am concerned that the GOP might actually put Sarah Palin in as their candidate, and I have yet to hear her say anything of substance. I am going to create some kind of Federal law regarding the spaying/neutering of pets. Violation of said law will result in incarceration at a Federal institution, as well as a lifelong appointment at the humane society cleaning out cages.

    sorry for making it political

  9. Re: Allergies

    I too had the worst seasonal and animal allergies for most of my life. I was totally dependent upon allergy medications- which didn’t even work that well. I started taking hesperidin which is a flavonoid found in citrus fruits that my naturopath recommended. The ingredients of the pills that I have are 9mg of vitamin c, 250 mg of hesperidin and 125 mg of bromelain. I would take 4-8 pills a day when my allergies were bothering me.

    Guess what….my allergies are TOTALLY gone! It is amazing. I even live with a dog! I highly recommend looking into it. (I know that I sound like some crazy spam-bot but I am a real person with no financial interest in hesperidin…just really really really happy to not have allergies any more.)

    Good luck and I hope you find something to help you out. Allergies can be so debilitating.

  10. if you’re looking for a good name of that sort of spooky/feminist/historical nature, Lillith is a good go to. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith

    Also, I too suffer from a “Daddy’s little kitty” situation. Our two literally follow him from room to room some days. I’ve caught him singing to them and having a conversation, which is adorable as well as a little unnerving.

  11. @Green Bean: What a wonderful post! Thanks for sharing that link, and doing what you do.

    @LunaMoon: No worries, I don’t think you’re a spam bot. Thanks for the tip. I’ve never heard of hesperidin before.

    @Holly House: Believe me, I’ve investigated all demonic names as possibilities for this cat. I’m a Lilith fan, too, but Lilith is too hard say– especially in anger. 😉 Hysterical about your man and the cats.

  12. totally off topic but its a sourdough emergency. My starter (about 2.5 weeks old) has smelled reeeaally strongly in the last 4 or 5 days and it smells like nail polish remover. I made 2 loaves with it a week ago but now I’m scared to because it smells just awful. I’ve fed it every day and not put it in the fridge…but do I need to throw it out and start over? Thanks!

  13. Hey Anonymous,

    Some bakers believe in throwing out starters once a year and making a new one because, the thinking is, that they lose vitality in the same way that yogurt starters crap out eventually. And I wouldn’t worry about food safety–if the starter isn’t viable the bread won’t rise and baking temperatures kill everything anyways.

  14. How about “Twitch” ( for Tiny Witch ).
    Also easy to say when you’re upset with Daddy’s Princess.
    Good Luck!
    Sandy from Nebraska

  15. The cute little demon is definitely a Phoebe. Something a bit complicated, and I like that she’s named after an insect hunter.

    Allergies are insane further up the coast, too, because of all the rain. Insofar as cat dander and the lot, you’ve lucked out that The Wee Demon Phoebe is a short hair. If she was medium to long hair it would be more of an issue. Something you could try to reduce the dander, if it gets bothersome, is to wipe her down w/ a warm damp towel once a day or so. She might exact her revenge by taking another bath to remove the horrible water, but I’ve found this trick to be helpful.

    (And I don’t know what it is about men and cats… Mine is utterly worshipped by the little stripey male we adopted in December, and he sings to the kid every morning. Pancho’s a sweet kid and I forgive him swinging like Tarzan on my braid, but he and his dad have quite a bond.)

  16. Pet names are crucial.
    Which is why our official organic mouse remover and low-tech entertainment system is named Mestopholies. Which just really fits with the whole demonic cat name theme we have going here.

  17. My husband also has a love affair with one of our cats. He thinks she can do no wrong, jumps to her defense if any of our other cats even look at her and as we speak he is curled up sleeping on the couch with her snoring away on his leg. Omg, he reminds me of the guy in the commercial who says in cutsie talk to his cat that he is going to take her on a picnic.

    Just discovered your blog today. I love it and I’m going back in time to read it all. Thank you.

  18. Pingback: Cute Kitten Follows Us Home

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