Caturday Saturday, Christmas Eve Edition...

Well, all this preparation for Christmas...and it's almost here! Teri still has a dozen cards to send out (guess they will be New Years Cards, hahameow) but for the first time since our Daddy died, she really wanted to get back into the spirit of friendship and keeping in touch.

She is going to spend Christmas Day with friends who have a kitty from us! Her name is Candi (with an i, hahameow) and boy, is she a Diva! She is Queen of the house and likes it that way! Here's a pix of her as Ms Claws!

Photo by Kathy Manley of Work2Snap Photography

Teri is making her special homemade Eggnog with Licor 43 and she has to make it today so it will be ready to drink tomorrow.

Then she is supposed to take us out walking today (that's what she said yesterday but it never happened!). She was kind of sad yesterday because of some news she got about one of our kitty extended family, and didn't feel like doing anything but focus on helping this kitty.

As our faithful followers know, Teri is 'there' for all the kitties that were born at our house, forever and ever. We are getting a kitty, Clem (who is Coco's brother) back next month due to behavior issues...

Well, another kitty, named Cinnabar, who lives in Wisconsin with a disabled couple, has multiple health issues and his family can no longer take care of him because of their own worsening health and financial problems.

Cinnabar is 8 years old, has a worsening undiagnosed heart murmur, IBD and urinates outside the litterbox. When they adopted him, Helen was ambulatory and was the main caretaker of their cats and home. Since then, she has had a stroke. She suffered from seizures all her life and had brain surgery to eliminate them, which it did, but she had a stroke while recovering, had to have hip and leg surgery, and is now in a wheelchair most of the time.

For quite a while now, he has been urinating outside the litter box, sometimes due to a UTI and crystals, so he is on a prescription food. But some of that behavior was more than likely due to the fact that they only have one box and it doesn't get scooped enough.

When they adopted him, they also had 2 other cats, a Devon Rex and a La Perm, but as their families health worsening, they made the tough decision to seek new homes for the other 2 cats through a purebred rescue who are based near where they live, hoping it would also help Cinni be happier getting more attention and help his litter box problems.

But Teri got a phone call on Thursday that they are going to have to give Cinnabar up, too. Because of the weather, he is unable to fly back to us right now and Teri considered seeing if she could ask for help from the Rescue Railroad to get him back home to us.

His family took him in to their vets, to have some tests done to see about his urinary problems, coughing and vomiting and we came to the decision that if he had serious health problems that it would be kinder and gentler to euthanize him rather than go to a home that wouldn't care for him properly...

But the vet said she wouldn't put him to sleep because his issues were treatable (no UTI but heart murmur worsening) and the vet felt he could be rehomed and she worked with a local purebred rescue organization and felt they did a good job with fostering and evaluating the cats they brought in. After Teri talked to the vet, she paid a big chunk of the bill for his exam and tests to help his owners out.

Still, Teri wasn't really comfortable with someone else making a decision that she didn't know. So she contacted Kirsten of

Specialty Purebred Cat Rescue

and after talking to her (she has a Cornish Rex of her own, too)...they came to the decision that they were actually in a better position to take Cinnabar and help him, because they were close by and he wouldn't have to wait til Spring to fly back to us...

Part of Teri feels like she is not 'there' for Cinnabar as he is not coming directly from the home he is in now, to us. Teri has traveled to pick up cats, had them brought back to us and even paid for one cat to fly back to us when his owner refused to send her back but would just take her to a shelter if he had to pay.

But as this organization is located so close to where he is, and Kristin said one of their best foster homes is available, and has much experience with CRex, Teri also feels that in working with them, while there is a 'degree of separation', she is not abandoning him. She will also make a donation to them, to help with Cinnabar's care. She says she hopes she is not just trying to make herself feel better by saying that...

She asked Kirsten to keep her updated on his progress and if he gets adopted, where he goes, so she can keep in touch with his new family...she has to have faith and trust that will happen. That is her worry...that she will lose track of Cinni and regret not pursuing getting him back home with us at his time of need...

So, as you can understand, we are not as Jolly here as we could be right before Christmas, but we hope things will be brighter for Cinnabar in the new year and that he can warm the hearts of a new family that can take care of his special needs.

So in your Christmas prayers, say one for Cinnabar and maybe one for Teri...we know the power of purrs!