Weblog

Friday, 27 June 2008

Wednesday, 25 July 2007

  • With great thanks to Neil Gaiman and his journal, we were able to place Thor in what looks to be a great home, with a great couple who have lots of land.  Once he settles in, he'll get to live as a barn cat--a life I think he will love.  This afternoon his new mom came and got him into the carrier (my efforts failed miserably), went with me to the vet's office, got a copy of his records, and took him home.

    We are both very sad to see him go and miss him already, but this is all for the best.

    Thank you to everyone who's come to visit, and for all the words of encouragement.

Sunday, 22 July 2007

  • Hey, wow, visitors!  Thank you all for following the link from Neil Gaiman's blog (I think that accounts for most of you)--it was totally unexpected and incredibly kind of him to post our plea.  It was a total surprise to log on tonight and see the comments and words of encouragement.

    As much as we would like to be able to keep Thor, it's just not realistic.  And unfortunately the sitation is growing desperate--we need to find him a home this week.  If you know anyone in the area (we are in Albany, NY) who might be interested in taking him, please ask them to contact me at the email address below.

Thursday, 19 July 2007

  • Last week we placed an ad in our local paper for Thor, but no luck yet.  I'm a little surprised; I thought between Craigslist and the paper, we would have had a couple of hits--but no such luck.  There's a local farm I'm hoping will want a barn cat (a perfect life for him!), but my hopes are not high.

    We were really hoping not to place Thor in a shelter, but the odds are not looking good.  It's either that or let him out and hope that between us and the neighbors he'll get food, affection, and shelter once in a while.

    When we took him in, I had no idea just how difficult this would be.  It isn't the money we've spent at the vet's office (and we've spent an amount that was quite a lot for us) that's so hard; it's the combination of love and uncertainty, of feeling so strongly that you want an animal to live a long and happy life in a good and healthy environment while just not knowing where he'll end up.

    This has been one of the most heartwrenching experiences I have ever known.

Friday, 13 July 2007

  • Just to clarify a few things for prospective adoptive folks:

    1. Thor does not have rabies.  He was in all likelihood bitten by another male cat in a territorial conflict (we have evidence of this: some male cat sprayed our porch about a week after we took Thor in).  He's been six months in quarantine, so the chances of him having rabies at this point are nil.  Furthermore, we suspect that whoever had him neutered as a kitten also had him vaccinated (the two tend to go hand in hand).  To be on the safe side, we are taking him for a check-up and to get his rabies vaccination tomorrow.  All of his other vaccinations are up to date, and he is free of both FIV and FELV.

    2. We have a number of items we intend to provide to whomever takes him, including his litter box, carrier, food and water dishes, his brush (which he loves), his towels (which he sleeps on), and a couple of toys.  We also would like to transfer his veterinary records to whomever adopts him.

    3. Although he was feral and is still very shy, he has become very comfortable with us.  He seeks affection, purrs happily, and his body language indicates that he's both comfortable and happy (his tail goes straight up when we approach him).  It took a few weeks for him to get to this point with us, but we're reasonably certain he'll warm up even more quickly now that he's been around people for such an extended period.  We'd like prospective adopters to be willing to meet him two or three times before taking him to ease the transition.  (And we'd love to have updates once he's adopted.)

    If we had no other cats and no restrictions on our lease, we would keep him.  Sadly, our alpha cat will not accept him, our lease restricts us to two pets, and frankly we can't handle three cats financially.  We are heartbroken at the idea of having to rehome him but at this point we feel there is no other option.

    If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to email me at cmlivecchi@gmail.com.