Here’s a gorgeous tuxie with the most amazing pattern on her nose … and those eyes!

Bernardo

Here’s Ladybug’s story:

This petite beauty with a cute turned up nose and a bit of curl to her hair is such a sweet girl. She is going to bring great joy to someone’s home. She is affectionate, playful and easy going. She gets a long well with everyone and in fact, she is so social that her nickname is Studio 54. Her very best friend is Bernardo. As soon as these two met they developed a very strong bond. So we would like to place them into a home together.

Both these kitties have clearly gone through a lot before we rescued them. We would really like to a least promise them that they do not have to lose each other. Please see Bernardo’s description and photos under his name. He is a very handsome and affectionate tuxedo. If you are able to provide a loving home for this pair please contact julia@adogsliferescue.org.

Here’s Bernardo’s story:

As soon as they met Bernardo and Ladybug became fast friends. While Ladybug is the first one to greet any stranger, Bernardo is shyer. He is certainly not a wall flower though and as soon as he warms up to you he is quite the charmer. He is not only very handsome but he is affectionate and such a love. Because of their close bond we want Bernardo and Ladybug to be placed into a home together. They both have already had a very tough life before we rescued them. Our hope then is that they do not need to lose each other in order to find a home. Please check out ladybug’s profile as well under her name. She is a Devon Rex mix. To meet Bernardo and Ladybug contact julia@adogsliferescue.org.

ADOPTION INFORMATION:
PetFinder ID: Ladybug: 13498659 Bernardo: 14142889
A Dog’s Life Rescue
Los Angeles, CA
310-590-7387
Email: adogsliferescue@yahoo.com

Ladybug

Learn more about Ladybug here.
Learn more about Bernardo here.

• Click here to find an adoptable pet in your area.

Each day throughout the holiday season The Cat’s Meow is showcasing an adoptable cat seeking a home for the holidays.

Today’s featured cat is Thelma, a sweet Tuxie in Pennsylvania who can be adopted with her littermate Louise for the price of one adoption when you adopt them at the same time. Can you give these two sweet girls a furever home?

Here’s Thelma’s story:

Thelma is a 6-month-old kitten. This sweetheart has been spayed, microchipped, received initial deworming and Frontline, is up to date on vaccinations, and has tested negative for feline FIV/FeLV. This beauty gets along with other cats and dogs. She is a litter mate to another black with white domestic short hair , Louise, and the foster mother is paying one of the adoption fees so that they can go together. All of our cats/kittens require a commercial cat carrier to transport them home.

ADOPTION INFORMATION:
PetFinder ID: 15164301
Molly’s Place Rescue
Mechanicsburg, PA
(717) 691-5555

Learn more about Thelma (and Louise) here.

• Click here to find an adoptable pet in your area.

Today’s featured cat is Sylvester, a gorgeous senior Tuxie in Ringoes, NJ. Sylvester is a special needs cat. He has diabetes and requires injections. It’s not that difficult to do, but it’s made it hard to adopt him out. Can you give this mellow, elder gent a second chance at life by giving him a Home 4 the Holidays?

Here’s Sylvester’s story:

Sylvester is our idea of a VERY big boy. In fact, he’s one of our biggest cats, tipping the scales at 19+ pounds! This isn’t all fat, either, but mostly the result of a large frame. Sylvester is a handsome guy, too, with white “mittens” in all four feet and a white muzzle and chest. The remainder of his coat is black. He’s about thirteen years old.

Generally a good-natured, laid-back guy, Sylvester is also a diabetic, so he’s one of our Special Needs Crew. He’s on insulin twice daily for this, and he also takes some inexpensive supplements. He doesn’t seem bothered at all by other cats; even rowdy little Hootz with whom he shares a room doesn’t faze him. We understand that not everyone can adopt a Special Needs feline, but we know there’s someone out there with a heart as big as Sylvester who will fall in love with him and give him a home where he can be cherished. Is it you?

ADOPTION INFORMATION:
PetFinder ID: 14318052
Tabbys Place
Ringoes, NJ
908-237-5300
adoptions@tabbysplace.org

Learn more about Sylvester here.

• Click here to find an adoptable pet in your area.

Today’s featured cat is a beautiful longhaired Tuxie named Katia in Denver, CO. Katia has lived at the shelter since 2004. Don’t you think she deserves a furever Home for the Holidays? Her PetFinder Pet ID# is 5390101.

Here’s Katia’s story:

Greetings, I’m Katia. Gorgeous, right? You betcha, I’m one pretty kitty! MaxFund has been my home since 2004 and I’m quite comfortable here with my friends in the feral cat room… However, I’d be thrilled to get out and stretch a bit. Heck, I’d love to see a window and see what’s happening in the world. A sunny spot by a window sounds heavenly to me.

I used to not let people pet me, but I’ve blossomed lately. I know that the best things come in small packages and once I let you pet me, you’ll find out for yourself, because you won’t be able to stop when you see how adorable I am. You know how people use faces…well imagine that I have a smiley face with batting eyelashes when I say you’ll love petting me. One of the volunteers here says that when he pets me, I’m “one of the cutest things he ever did see.”

I’m looking for a family to take me in and appreciate my inner beauty and free spirit. I enjoy a bit of human company and I’m very curious about people in general, but I do need space to be myself. Can you offer me patience and acceptance? Please come and meet me. You won’t regret bringing such a soulful creature into your heart and home. I’m a very special feline. Trust me, you’ll see.

Katia is up-to-date with routine shots, house trained and spayed/neutered.

ADOPTION INFORMATION:
PetFinder ID: 5390101
MaxFund Animal Adoption Center
Denver, CO
303-595-4917

Learn more about Katia here.

• Click here to find an adoptable pet in your area.

Today’s featured cat is a cute tuxie named Franklin in Northern Virginia. Franklin was born in August of 2009, and has three littermates: Ryan, Brie and Travis. Franklin needs to be adopted out with one of his littermates, or into a home with another young cat with whom he can bond.

Here’s their story:

These kittens are friendly, playful and “ready to go.” They love toys, playing chase, and pouncing on each other. When they are done playing, they like to be petted and love to purr. They were abandoned outside along with their mom, Charlotte, their two other sisters, and two older brothers. A kind woman found the whole family living inside a pipe while she was out walking her dog. These kittens need to be adopted in pairs or into homes with another young cat to play and bond with.

FRANKLIN is Ryan’s look-a-like and partner in crime. (Hint: You can tell the two apart because Franklin’s face is all black, while Ryan has a white patch on his face). Like his brother, Franklin can make a game out of just about anything, and the two are often found chasing each other around the house. Franklin is also not shy about coming to find you when he wants to be petted and snuggled – he’ll appear at your feet with a loud mew to demand the love he knows he deserves!

BRIE is the little sister to these three boys, and with her white face and big, big eyes, she’s definitely the beauty queen. Friendly and curious, Brie loves to climb, jump, and play, then settle in for a good nap on your lap or even your shoulder!

TRAVIS, with his dapper little black mustache, is the cuddliest of the bunch. The second you sit down, he is ready to jump onto your lap to purr and purr and purr. While the others are wrestling and play-fighting on the floor, Travis often cuddles up close to let you know he’s a lover, not a fighter!

RYAN is the biggest of the boys and likes to “throw his weight” around! He doesn’t hesitate to take possession of the best places and the best toys. Playful and fearless, his philosophy is that anything can be a toy if you use your imagination, including pencils, paper, other kittens, and passing feet. Ryan also lets everyone know when he wants something – like canned food!

Please be sure to visit the SPCA of No. Virginia’s website (http://www.spcanova.org/adoption/catlist.php) for details about their adoption policies.

More about Franklin:

• This pet is up to date with routine shots.
  
• This pet is already housetrained.

SPCA of Northern Virginia
Arlington, VA
703-799-9390

• Click here to find an adoptable pet in your area.

Here’s a terrific tuxie story from USA TODAY that’s just waiting for a happy ending:

By Sharon L. Peters, Special for USA TODAY
You might imagine that a little shelter already filled to the rafters with discarded dogs and cats wouldn’t exactly launch itself into code-blue alert to save a long-shot homeless cat.

You’d be wrong.

This is the story of a skinny, scraggly, half-frozen cat picked up by animal control during a nasty snowstorm recently at what appeared to be the last seconds of his ninth life. This is the story of what transpired in the critical hours afterward at the little shelter where he was taken.

I happen to know this story because it occurred at the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter where I’m a volunteer dog walker. I also happen to know that it’s the sort of thing that happens regularly in really good shelters all over the country.

So it’s a Friday morning, frigid and icy, after an overnight storm dumped a foot or more of snow. Animal control receives a call about a cat that may or may not be alive under a deck. The officer arrives, finds the cat is still living but just barely, and transports it over treacherous roads to the shelter.

“Whatcha got there?” the shelter director, Mary Steinbeiser, asks when officer Cheri France arrives and puts the carrying crate on the counter.

“A cat,” France says. “I’m not sure if it’s still alive.”

Steinbeiser pulls the black and white cat, so cold it’s rigid, out of the carrier. The eyes are closed. There’s no movement. This is an awful moment for anyone who loves animals. She steels herself. And then hears the tiniest squeak.

The women exchange glances. It looks really bad. But Steinbeiser thrusts the cat at France, who unzips her jacket and presses the cat close to her body, then zips back up. Steinbeiser races off to toss some already-dried towels back into the dryer to heat them up.

Over the next few hours, Steinbeiser and shelter workers keep substituting warm towels for the ones that have cooled down, a never-ending relay from the laundry room to the office where they’ve set up the temporary kitty ICU. They inject subcutaneous fluids. A dehydrated cat can’t maintain its body temperature, and this was clearly a dehydrated cat, maybe so dehydrated there’s been organ damage. By afternoon, he is stirring a bit when people approach, opening his eyes, reaching out a paw. They substitute the warmed-towel approach with a cozy crate next to a heater. He looks somewhat more alert. But his heartbeat remains erratic.

When the day is done and everyone is leaving for the night, he’s not as close to lifelessness as he had been. He’d even licked up a wee bit of wet food, but “I’m still thinking it’s possible he might not make it,” Steinbeiser says.

The next morning, she gets a phone call from the early person at the shelter. “He’s moving around!” she hears. He’s wobbly. Real wobbly. And in some subtle ways doesn’t seem quite as solid as he had the night before. So more fluids are injected, they wrap him up again for several hours and cover his cage with a towel to retain the heat and keep his padded recovery unit quiet and private. Each time anyone passes the cage, the towel is lifted and a soft, encouraging word is spoken.

By nightfall, it’s clear he has fought his way back again, and he’s determined to not lose his grip this time. He’s purring. He’s eating a bit. And he’s making sure everyone understands that his demonstrated resolve to live is matched only by the boundless sweetness that resides within him.

The tension that’s been swirling about the shelter for the last 36 hours dissipates. The staff, a little emotional about the miracle that blew in with first big snowstorm of the season, names him Icee.

Now the little black and white cat, about 3 or 4 years old, is prowling the cat room, healthy, plumped up, personable and waiting for a home.

“He is,” says Steinbeiser, “an absolute love.”

He’d probably say the same right back at her.

You can adopt Icee or one of the many animals awaiting adoption at the Teller County Animal Shelter in Divide, Colorado.

Dave’s wife drives the family Opel 60 km daily to get to work, through tons of traffic. It’s averages about a 2-hour trip there and back at rush hour. One evening after arriving home, she tells Dave there’s a funny noise coming from her car engine.

Dave takes a look and finds a teeny tiny black and white kitten yowling his heart out. It was shaking from fright,” said Dave. “My wife had driven 60km on the country’s busiest and deadliest highways and roads with this kitten in the engine! But that’s not all – so I’m holding the trembling kitten and I count four feet, two ears and ONE eye – the poor thing!”

They rush the kitten to the vet, and discover that although he has only one eye, he didn’t suffer any major injuries from his wild ride. The vet estimated that he was about eight weeks old.

Dave and his family adopt the kitten, whom they call Sneax (because his bright white paws look like sneakers and he ‘sneaked’ into the car).

Fast forward two months. Sneax has happily taken over the household and is an integral part of the family. When he’s not napping, he enthusiastically chases the mouse pointer on Dave’s computer screen, attacks errant shoelaces, and knocks evil fridge magnets onto the floor. Dave claims that Sneax wants to be Spiderman when he grows up.

[LINK: bizcommunity.com]

A tiny tuxie kitten who was clinging by his claws to his 9th and final life was rescued from a frigid Long Island storm drain this week.

A passerby heard his faint mews and investigated, locating him beneath a drainage grate in a parking lot. She called the Humane Society, and was lucky enough to talk to a volunteer who happened to be the wife of Oceanside Fire Chief Tim Biscay. The Biscays raced to the scene as the chief called his ladder company for assistance.

“We have a lot of tools, and deep down, most of the guys here are real animal lovers,” said Biscay, who has performed several cat rescues.

The firefighters tried to coax the shivering tuxie from its perch inside a pipe but he was too frightened to move. Then they “spooked” it with a fire extinguisher and the kitten leaped into the arms of firefighter Matt Martin.

“The poor little thing was pale and shaking — he was probably hypothermic,” said Biscay.

The kitten was taken to the Hilton Animal Hospital. “He was definitely hypothermic,” said Dr. Jeffrey Strom. “But he’s eaten and is in a warming cage, and he seems to be brightening up.” The kitten, nicknamed “Storm” spent the night in the warming cage. The next morning he was admitted to the Long Beach Humane Society for adoption.

He didn’t have to wait long. Two hours later, he was adopted by the mother-in-law of the original good Samaritan who alerted authorities to his predicament. How’s that for a happy ending?

[LINK: New York Post]

It’s unimaginable. A mother finds a stranger, standing over her sleeping son. The boy’s mother tells Channel 6 News it happened to her Wednesday evening.

The family lives in rural Pottawattamie County, southeast of Council Bluffs. The 26 year-old mother, Becca, asked that her last name not be used, as the family is still concerned for its safety.

“Scared,” she said. “I don’t want to be home by myself.” She said the ordeal began shortly before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. She had settled her nearly five year-old son in a recliner to watch a movie. Then, she got in the tub with her three year-old.

That’s when something strange happened. Her cat, Oreo, wandered in to the bathroom. “I’m like why is the outside cat in the house?” The cat, she said, was acting strangely.

“I hurried up, got dressed and I came out in the kitchen. And a guy was standing over my five year-old son, just staring at him.”

Her son was sleeping in the chair. “And I yelled at him,” Becca said. “And I told him that if he didn’t get out of the house, I was going to call 911. He came running towards me and hit me in the head.”

She said she grabbed the closest possible weapon off the kitchen floor, her son’s plastic baseball bat. “I hit him in the head with the bat. And he took off, out the door. I don’t know where he went.” She never saw a car.

“If he was after me, he would have come in the bathroom. So, I’m wondering if he’s a child molester or something.”

Sheriff Jeff Danker said the motives are unclear. “It seemed like he was focused on the child, so it is a real concern.”

He calls the case “unusual,” especially in that part of the county where there’s no easy access to homes by sidewalks. “The investigators are going to be canvassing the area and doing what they can to follow up on this.”

Becca used to feel comfortable leaving the door unlocked, but not anymore. “Just because it’s country, you feel like you’re safe. And it’s not safe anywhere.”

She called her cat her “hero.” Ironically, she rescued him more than eight years ago. Now, it seems, Oreo has returned the favor by saving her son.

“I was just scared to death, because if the cat hadn’t come in, he could have taken off with him or hurt him, or do something.” The boy slept through the whole thing, and his little brother didn’t see anything.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s department is looking for a man around 40 years-old. He’s described as having dark hair, hazel eyes and a tattoo on the back of his neck. He’s about 6’1” and weighs around 200 pounds.

Becca said he was wearing blue jeans, a purple shirt and tennis shoes when she saw him. Anyone with information should call (712) 890-2200.

[LINK: wowt.com]