Inside Bainbridge

by Melissa Byrd, of PAWS of BI and N Kitsap, and Julie Hall June 10, 2012

Thank you Paws and Fins Pet Shop for sponsoring our weekly Animal Tales feature.

Archie is an 8-year-old, 15-pound, long-haired, tuxedo-colored Maine Coon male who is looking for a new home due to the death of his elderly soulmate. He came to PAWS of Bainbridge and N. Kitsap after languishing for over three months at a local shelter. The PAWS people have had him since mid-February, and it’s a mystery to everyone why he hasn’t been adopted. Well, not really. This time of year, people are looking for kittens. Why would anyone want to get a cat who has already figured out who he is and what he wants out of life when they can get a frenetic ball of complete energy who is bent on destroying their house one vase or curtain at a time?

But if you’re willing to fast forward out of the kitten phase, Archie is everything you’d want in a kitty. He’s handsome, affectionate, mellow, sweet, and gets along famously with other felines. He was quite the celebrity during his time at the Miller Road PAWS Adoption Center. He liked to sprawl out on the bench and make himself at home, getting along great with any and all who came to visit. He also enjoyed time in the window, watching the construction, traffic, and occasional geocacher. Archie learned the sound of the treat bag shaking quickly and was right there for his share every day. As long as there is a litterbox and a food dish in the room, Archie is a happy boy.

Archie was an indoor-only cat in his previous home. When he first arrived at PAWS, he was in need of a dematting and some dental work. Those were done the day PAWS took him from the shelter, and he is looking and feeling great now. Luckily Archie likes to be brushed, making it easy to care for his coat and prevent matts from forming again.

Archie spent a week at Petco too, where he received many compliments about his handsomeness and sweet nature. This mellow guy was a constant companion to his deceased human companion. PAWS has no history about whether Archie has been around dogs, but he might adjust to a cat-savvy mellow dog if given the proper introduction. Currently Archie is at the Cattery, but he can be easily brought to the Adoption Center for an introduction. Are you the person who will take him home and return the affection and dedication this charming guy is ready to give?

To meet Archie and/or other felines available for adoption, contact PAWS.

Photos courtesy of PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap County.

by Melissa Byrd, of PAWS of BI and N Kitsap, and Julie Hall May 25, 2012

Thank you Paws and Fins Pet Shop for sponsoring our weekly Animal Tales feature.

In January we published one of our most-read Animal Tales, The Maine Coons—A Cat Breeding Cautionary, about a cat breeding situation run amok. After the breeder died, some 35 cats (21 of them kittens) were rounded up over time by a neighbor (who would not disclose their location) and taken in to the Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap PAWS. It was a sad mess, with most of the cats underfed, sick, and unsocialized to people. Some were pregnant, and many were roaming the neighborhood, providing a kitty buffet for coyotes.

Happily, almost all of those kittens were nursed, fostered, and ultimately adopted—all but two, that is: male and female siblings named Chet and Shania who were seven weeks old when they landed at PAWS.

Of all the sick cases, Chet was the worst. You name it, he had it—ringworm, ear mites, and a wicked upper respiratory infection. He was a mere 11 ounces when Melissa first saw him, crawling over all the other kittens in his litter to get close to her . . . and then hissing. It was the cutest thing she had ever seen, but she respectfully did not let Chet know that. As Chet’s hair grew, for a while he looked like a paint pony with white spots on his black coat, and then the spots faded. One white eyelash grew in, and then one white whisker, which both fell out as he got older.

When Shania was at the PAWS Cattery, Melissa nicknamed her Siren because of her wailing call whenever she would hear Melissa drive up until a plate of canned food was placed in front of her. She does the circle and weave for treats too, which Melissa adores, and when she hears a bag shake she can’t help but investigate. She has a beautiful black coat with chocolate highlights.

Because of their history, both Shania and Chet are skittish with people. Once in a while Shania will tolerate petting when she’s being fed. She is great with other cats and likes to snuggle with her brother. Chet will allow people to pet him, although it makes him uneasy. A good sign lately, though, is that he has begun to look up at people when they pet him.

Shania.

But their skittishness doesn’t altogether explain the fact that these pretty siblings still haven’t been adopted. Plenty of the other kittens and cats from their group that found homes were skittish too. The fact that Shania and Chet are both black has not helped their case. Black cats have a harder time getting adopted, perhaps because of superstition, bigotry, or a bit of both. For this reason, Julie adopts black cats, and she’s never regretted it!

These days the PAWS folks are keeping Chet and Shania at the Adoption Center on Miller Road so they can be socialized more with people. PAWS workers encourage visitors to go into their enclosure and interact with them. Both of the siblings will now take treats from some people’s hands—Shania a little more greedily than Chet—and although they do not seek petting, they have never bitten or scratched to avoid it. They also tolerate receiving medicine and having their nails trimmed.

It’s hard to say whether these two young cats will show the same turnaround to people that many of the others from the group have shown. They are “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma,” but who doesn’t like to solve a good puzzle? Sometimes the hardest-won love runs the deepest.

Interested in meeting these two or learning about other felines available for adoption through PAWS? Contact them!

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Photos courtesy of PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap County.

by Melissa Byrd, of PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap, and Julie Hall May 6, 2012

Thank you Paws & Fins Pet Shop for sponsoring our weekly Animal Tales feature!

It’s a sadly familiar story: Sweet cats outliving their adoring human “mom.” In this case, three littermates were left homeless when their person died. The deceased woman’s daughter adopted the brother of the bunch and wanted to take all the siblings but felt she couldn’t handle three cats, so she asked other family and friends if they could take the two ladies. No one stepped up, so she reluctantly left the two sisters at a local shelter, asking that they remain together.

Ten-years-old Molly and Belle had lived together their whole lives with their brother and devoted person. They slept with her, loved her doting, and enjoyed time outside in a safe enclosed area for birdwatching and sunning. Life was good.

The shelter told the woman’s daughter that they would do their best to find the sisters a home together but that given their age they might have to “take whatever they got.” Frightened and confined to a small cage, the sisters’ world was suddenly upside-down.

Belle at window.

Things took a turn for the better when PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap took the sisters into their senior cats program, where they were put in the senior loft of the open-area Cattery. Belle settled right in, but Molly acted nervous and hid. Belle explored her new surroundings, checking in on her sister often. Soon it was discovered that Molly had developed a raging upper respiratory infection. Her nose and eyes were caked shut with green mucus, and her legs were covered too from her efforts to try to clean her face. Belle also had developed a slight cold. A round antibiotics put both of them on the road to recovery, and within a week the two sisters were feeling much better and happy to be free to roam about the Cattery.

Belle and Molly are both very friendly, affectionate kitties. At meal time, they entwine themselves in Melissa’s legs as she describes to them how delicious their food will be. They always say hi and love to be petted and brushed, making it quite obvious how loved they were in their former home.

Molly looking up.

The daughter who dropped off Molly and Belle at the original shelter visited to check on them and was surprised to see them gone from the cage they’d been in. When she asked if they’d been adopted she was told they had been taken to a different outreach, but when she checked there she was told they had never been there. She searched on Petfinder and found them on the PAWS website. When she came out to see them, they were unavailable due to their colds. She visited yet again when they were at the Petco adoption area one day, where she was delighted to finally see them. She told their story and how grateful she was to find them so healthy and happy. She left a few of their favorite toys and asked to be kept up to date on them.

PAWS can’t wait to tell her they’ve been adopted together to a wonderful home where they will be loved as much as they were before.

Molly and Belle are at the Adoption Center on Miller Road along with several other great cats and a few older kittens who are all looking for homes. It is open Monday through Saturday, with varying daily hours. Interested in meeting these two terrific gals or the other lovelies? Call 206-780-0656. You can see PAWS available cats on its Petfinder page, to which there is a link on the PAWS website: www.pawsbainbridge.org.

Photos courtesy of PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap County.

by Melissa Byrd, of PAWS of BI and N Kitsap, and Julie Hall January 14, 2012
Thank you Paws and Fins Pet Shop for sponsoring our weekly Animal Tales feature.

When PAWS first heard of the Maine Coons last April, 2011, they had no idea what they were getting into. The woman who bred the cats had passed away, and her friend called PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap for help. She wasn’t sure how many cats and kittens there were, but when PAWS heard they were Maine Coons and a Pixie Bob, they felt confident the cats would easily find homes because they are such popular breeds.

However, once the deceased breeder’s friend began bringing them into the vet’s office for evaluation, everyone was surprised to find them underweight, unhealthy, and poorly socialized to humans. There also seemed to be no end to the number of cats and kittens that kept streaming in throughout the spring and summer. The breeder’s friend would bring in three here, two there, mothers who looked liked they had just given birth but were separated from their kittens, litters that were being nursed by several females without an identifiable mother. . . . The people at PAWS scrambled to help them.

Some came in with names, but most of them did not. The adults were given fabric-themed names: Gingham, Paisley, Charmeuse, Taffeta, Chiffon, Gabardine. The kittens got names of country singers, gadgets, books, and so on.

The PAWS folks began taking the cats to their Cattery to recover from their spay/neuter surgeries. The pregnant ones, mothers with kittens, and weened kittens were sent to foster homes. The kittens were covered in ringworm, gasping for breath from upper respiratory infections, and were uncomfortable with human contact. They had to be scrubbed with antifungal, pilled, vaccinated, and generally manhandled for their first few days in their foster homes, which only added to their mistrust of humans. The adults would find a hiding place and hiss and growl when people came near them.

It quickly became clear that the woman who called herself a breeder may have had the best intentions with her first few cats but was not running a legitimate breeding program. The colony was going to need extensive rehabilitation. In all, PAWS recovered 35 cats from the colony, 14 adults and 21 kittens. It is impossible to say how many more may have been picked off by predators such as coyotes or may still be outside living wild.

With patience and kindness and more patience and kindness, the young kittens adjusted in their foster homes to being petted, played with, and snuggled. Some of the older kittens had a harder time getting used to being around people, and the adults at first only came out when there was food involved and when humans weren’t in the room. But over time the cat whisperers at PAWS began to win the trust of many of the Maine Coons. Some decided that being petted wasn’t the torture it first seemed, and these cats—PJ (now Thomas), Lacey, Gingham, and Paisley—have found great homes, with glowing updates of their progress from their new human companions, who understand their past and are continuing the work PAWS started months ago.

Sadly, 9 of the cats still haven’t fully come around to people. Lucy, one of the first to be brought to PAWS, was a scraggly terrified mess whose coat has grown in beautifully but who still does not enjoy being touched. Taffeta, Chiffon, and Charmeuse are a bit younger and consent to short petting but do not want to be picked up. Gabardine, Terry, and Georgette were a few of the last to arrive, and they are slowly coming out of hiding. Rhonda is still a bit leery of being petted but will withstand a few strokes to get the treats that follow. The 10-year-old Pixie Bob, Silk, has made the most progress of all of the remaining cats. She is a beautiful silver tabby with a deformed foot and an undocked tail, who now approaches people for petting. She has spent time at the PAWS adoption center on Miller Road and has done well there.

Ranging from 18 months to 3 years old, these remaining cats need families that will see the diamonds in the rough that they are and give them the patience they will need to recover from their semi-feral early days and polish them into the shining gems they have the potential to be.

Interested in meeting one of these cats or learning about others that are available for adoption through PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap? Contact them!

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  Silk the Pixie Bob

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Photos courtesy of PAWS of Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap County.