Writing Bios for #Cat #Rescue ~ My New #Volunteer Job! #pets #adopt #adoptdontshop #cats #catlife #catsrule #love #catrescue #amwriting

My two rescue cats, Max and Jinx,
taking over my writing space
to alert me they're in need
of some treats!

I've been taking a break from writing novels, so I'm putting my creative writing energy into a cause I feel strongly about ~ pet adoption!  I found a position that is a great fit for me at Forever Fortunate Felines, through a site called Volunteer Match.  I'll be writing biographies for cats needing forever homes, and these bios feed to the FFF website as well as Petfinder and other rescue sites, along with pictures, videos, and medical info I'll be in charge of organizing and posting.

My 3 furbabies, Jinx, Max, & Otis

I'm thrilled that the bios make it to Petfinder, because I found my two cats - Max and Jinx - there, as well as a number of dogs over the years, including my current border collie mix, Otis.

Forever Fortunate Felines has rescued over 5,000 cats since its formation in 2019.  FFF rescues cats in urgent need (often from high-kill shelters) and brings them into foster care until they are healthy, socialized, and ready for adoption.  This amazing organization currently works with shelters in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, and is a 501c3 not-for-profit that vaccinates, spays and neuters, and microchips each cat during their time in foster care. 

Please consider pet adoption, and if you'd like to learn more about Forever Fortunate Felines, click here.  There are links for volunteering and donating as well - any and all support is very much appreciated!  Each cat adopted from FFF makes room for another cat to transition from a cage in a shelter to foster care and a forever home!  

My #Cat Had Non-Recognition Aggression #cats #pets

My beautiful mom with 3 of
our pets, circa 1970

I've had pets my entire life, as far back into my childhood as I can remember. Usually at least three in the house, but never less than one.  I thought I knew quite a bit about pet behavior after all these years, and I did know enough to guess one of our cats, Max, had a possible bladder infection two weeks ago, and that something like that was serious enough to warrant an immediate trip to the Emergency Vet (of course, it happened on a Sunday).  I recognized some of the same symptoms displayed by a cat we had when I was a teen, and remembered male cats are more susceptible to bladder issues.  I was in the right ballpark, but it was much more serious than an infection--Max had a complete blockage of the urinary tract.  A life-threatening condition.  He was whisked into the back room, shaved and sedated, and then catheterized.  

This was, of course, terribly upsetting for the humans who love him.  And then I also worried about the effects of his absence on his biological brother, Jinx. These two kitties were born in a shelter together, fostered together until the reached the required age for adoption, and then adopted together by our family.  They had never even spent a night apart.  And Max required hospitalization for three days.

Jinx and Max on their favorite perch

I couldn't wait to reunite the brothers once I excitedly hauled the cat carrier back into our house.  I gently pulled Max out and set him on his favorite perch on the cat tree.  Jinx came padding down the stairs to greet me, and I scooped him up and set him beside Max, exclaiming, "Look who's back!  You're brother's home!"  

Jinx took one sniff of Max, then let out a nasty hiss as his fur lifted from his back.  With a low growl, he leapt away, tail swishing.  For the rest of the day, he stalked poor, tired Max wherever he went, swatting at him when Max was in range.  I was beside myself.  I've had cats all my life, and I've never, ever seen anything like this.  I even checked Max over to make sure I had brought the correct cat home from the Emergency Vet.

Once I had verified Max's identity, I called up Google, trying to figure out exactly what to type in.  Finally, I think I wrote something like "My cat came home from vet and other cat" at which point "hissing" filled in as a suggestion. Good enough.  I clicked and quickly discovered that this had happened to other people who had cats who were best buds before one headed off to the vet.  In fact, it had a name: Feline Non-Recognition Aggression.

On the one hand, I was relieved this was an actual thing, and not terribly uncommon either.  On the other hand, I was devastated.  My cats were so close, inseperable brothers, and now Jinx LITERALLY did not recognize his litter mate.  Max smelled different, like the other animals in the hospital and the IV meds that had been pumped into him for days.  His legs were shaved to allow access to his skin and veins.  And he'd been absent for three days.  Jinx behaved like I'd brought some unknown enemy cat into his house, and he was not happy.  And poor Max had no idea why Jinx was behaving that way. Could a serious illness and three days at the vet erase the two years they'd spent together, since birth?

Max's new haircut

There are a number of posts and articles that discuss how to handle Feline Non-Recognition Aggression, so if you're experiencing it yourself, there are suggestions out there.  Basically, you have to take things slow, and go through the motions of re-introduction as though the two have never met before.  I wish I'd known about the possibility of this occurring before I tossed them together, but at least I was able to find help quickly and start trying to fix things.  And thankfully, with all the pets we've had over the years, I've had lots of experience successfully introducing animals to each other.  The one thing I didn't know about was a type of diffuser that emits an odorless (to us) substance that calms cats.  I purchased one quickly here and plugged it in where they spend the majority of their time.  I kept everyone apart at night until things got better.  And, things DID get better, much to my relief.  So take heart if you've found this blog because you are experiencing something similar.  Max began to smell like himself again, Jinx figured out who he was, and their cozy relationship was back to normal after about four days.  Best buddies again!

I caught them grooming each other last night - yay!

Now, to figure out how to make them both like Max's new "special food"...

Happy Holidays for Shelter #Pets - #ShelterPetLove

I love animals.  And I come from a long line of animal lovers, on both sides of my family.  Growing up, we had at least 2 cats and a dog in the house at all times; we also owned a horse that lived at my mom's best friend's barn (that's the setting I used as inspiration for the stable where Jamie keeps her horse in my Young Adult novel DIVINE FALL).  I have many fond memories of playing with the barn cats and "camping out" with the other kids on the patio, under the stars, while all the dogs that lived on the farm tried to squeeze into our sleeping bags.

My mom, waking up with 350,
plus two cats.  I love this pic.

We often took in rescues from shelters.  When my parents married, our first family dog was a St. Bernard named 350.  Why?  Because that was his cage number at the shelter, and that was how much his adoption fee was - $3.50.  Of course, this was 1969.

Sadly, my mom is gone...but I've continued the tradition of making animals a big part of our lives.  Right now at home we have a rescue cat (he's 16 now, and he's had several brothers over the years, both his actual brother and a few other rescues, but he's the only cat at the moment) and a rescue dog (see his story here) who is a 2-year-old Border Collie mix who could power the entire U.S. if we could figure out how to tap into his energy supply.  Luckily, my husband is a runner who takes him on 10 mile jaunts almost daily.

I wish I had a bigger house, a bigger yard, and a bigger income to be able to afford more.  If I could, I'd rescue them all.  Maybe someday we can have a farm too, that would have enough land to support a lot more.  In the meantime, I donate what I can to organizations that help homeless animals.

My younger son playing with one of the shelter cats

A few years ago, I decided our new Christmas tradition would be buying all the things on the local shelter's "wish list" and delivering it during visiting hours, with my kids, so we could also give the animals some extra holiday love.  The very first year we did this, the strangest thing happened on Christmas - a psychic medium at a party (who had never met me), gave me a message from my mother about this trip to see the animals.  More on that story here. While I write romance mixed with ghost stories, I'm a bit of a skeptic about "readings" and such.  But this was enough to make me believe some gifted people can talk to spirits, and I truly believe my mother wanted me to know how happy she was that we made that trip.

This is the stuff my sister got for
the dogs - she had a cart of
treats and supplies for cats too

This year, I posted some pictures on Facebook, in the hopes I might inspire others to visit their local shelters.  My sister saw the post and immediately said she'd do it too.  We live eight hours apart, which I hate, but I was thrilled that this gesture connected us in a small way for the holidays.  And I hope this tradition reminds my children of the importance of showing kindness to all the creatures of the world, especially those in need, and of the joy you can get from picking out presents for animals without a family.  My hope is that my boys, and my sister's girls, will continue the tradition with their children someday.  Happy holidays!