Happy 6th Purrthday to the Twins!

Happy 6th purrthday to Freya and Heimdall!  In 2010, they were born to a pet cat in Salem, OR, and were two out of a litter of four.  The other two were taken with them to Salem Friends of Felines.  Freya was given the shelter name of Furkins and Heimdall was given the shelter name of Fonz.  The other siblings were given the shelter names of Fizz and Fink.  They were already adopted by the time we saw Freya and Heimdall.

Their mom-cat was a tuxie and their dad-cat was a neighborhood Siamese.  They were born at their mom-cat's home, but the humans there didn't want to keep them and got the mom-cat spayed shortly after.

Happy purrthday, twins!  We love you both!

Jockeying for Position

Heimdall:  Hey, Sis, that's my spot!

Freya:  You always get it!  It's my turn to sit here while Mommy types!

Heimdall:  If you're up there, you have to lie down.  Here, let me show you!

Freya:  No, I said it's my turn!

*The twins swat each other lightly for a few minutes while Mommy tries to see around them, until she finally gives up and waits until Heimdall steps all the way from her lap to the desk.  Freya gives her brother one final swat, then claims Mommy's lap.  Heimdall lies down with one back paw on Freya's back.*

Heimdall:  See, this is the way you do it!  My spot!  My person, so my spot!

Freya's expression says it all!

Happy Gotcha Day Annifursary to the Twins!

Hey, Sis!  Did you hear that?  It's our 4th Gotcha Day Annifursary!  Remember when we were just kittens and Mommy and Daddy came to Salem Friends of Felines to get us?  They said we looked just like Uncle Skylar and Auntie Lydia and they wanted us to be their very own kittens!  I remember being excited and scared at the same time and hiding in the back of the carrier.

What was that, Brother?  Oh, yeah.  I remember being at Salem Friends of Felines in the kitten room.  We were the oldest kittens in there, and I took over as the foster "mom" to the littlest ones who needed someone to mentor them.  You were the only one I let pretend nurse on me, though, and that was only because you're my brother.  I remember that ride to our new home.  I didn't want to leave the kitten room at all, but once we got in the car I wanted out of the carrier and kept reaching my paws through to hold onto Mommy and Daddy.

When we got home, I remember that we explored everything, with our new family trailing along behind watching what we were doing and trying to get to know us.  That was an adventure, and a fun one at that!  I'm so glad that Mommy saw your picture and Daddy saw mine, so that we found a home together, since we're littermates.  I'm glad we found this home to call our own!

Happy Birthday to Freya & Heimdall!

Wait, it's our birthday already?  How can we be four years old?  It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were babies.  We were born to a pet tuxedo cat, but the dad in the household didn't want us kittens.  There were four of us in the litter:  two boys and two girls.  We weren't named until we got to the shelter, and then we all got names starting with F:  Fonz (Heimdall), Furkins (Freya), Fizz, and Fink.  Our momcat stayed a pet cat to our first family.  We kittens were brought to Salem Friends of Felines in Salem, OR, where we were taken care of, checked out by a vet, and given a temporary home in the kitten room.  That's a special part of the shelter where all the kittens hang out!  It's a pretty cool room, about half the size of a typical bathroom in a human house, with shelves, cat toys, hiding boxes with cutouts to play paws in, and cat trees.  Of course, it also has litter boxes, food bowls, and water bowls.  Oh, and a window to see the humans.  Anyone who visits the shelter can go visit the kittens, and we loved it there.  We were there for a long time, though!

We plan to celebrate our 4th birthday by snuggling with Mommy and Daddy, maybe getting petted by Grandma, and playing with the rest of the family.  Oh, and possibly birdwatching, because the spring birds are starting to arrive!

In case you're wondering who is who in the picture, Freya is on the left and Heimdall is on the right.  We love our daddy's slippers!

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day Anniversary to the Twins!!

Happy Gotcha Day Anniversary to the twins:  Freya and Heimdall!  Two years ago today is when Mommy and Daddy went down to Salem Friends of Felines and adopted them.  The twins cried in the carrier on the way home, but when they got out all they wanted to do was go adventuring inside the house!  Everything about a house was new to them, because they hadn't been in one since they were tiny kittens.  Of course, now, two years later, they're showing Miss Marble and even Tigress the ropes concerning house life.  Yep, Freya's taken over the mothering duties of Miss Marble completely, just as she did with her own brother and the other kittens in the kitten room at SFOF.  Both of them have been trying to encourage Tigress to come inside more and more, and Tigress has succeeded in coming in to eat from the inside food bowl twice now.  Freya still harasses Aunties Rori and Missy, but even that has calmed down considerably.  Rori even snuggles with Freya; seldom, but she does!  Heimdall enjoys being anywhere Mommy is, preferably on her lap.

Happy birthday to Little Bit!

Little Bit writes:

It's my 4th birthday today, or as near as my purrents have decided.  Four years ago, my sisters Smokey, Baby Chiba, and I were born to our mama Boo-Boo Kitty in Portland, OR.  Smokey lives with a friend, and Baby Chiba died as a kitten, and I'm doing really well with everyone here in Vancouver, WA!

I didn't go visiting when Tabby went a week ago (she promises to write about it later), because I fell off the top of the stroller while Mommy was getting us ready.  She had put me in the carrier, put the carrier on the stroller, and then turned to talk to one of the twins.  I rolled myself off the stroller!  I'm fine, but I was shaken up for about 10 minutes afterward and didn't want to go back into the carrier.  Mommy promises never to do that again, and always to have at least one hand on the carrier if it's on the stroller.  It scared her as much as it did me!

I'm having a great birthday running around with the twins!  I hopped up to groom my half-sister Rori (who's almost a year older than me) for a while this morning, then got back down off the bed to play again.  ZOOOOOOM!!!!!

Happy First Gotcha Day Anniversary to the Twins!!!

 Heimdall writes:

Mommy says it's been a whole year today since she and Daddy came to get us at Salem Friends of Felines.  Wow!  I remember being scared to leave my friends in the kitten room, and glad my sister was with me wherever we were going.  I'm so glad that we came to live with our family!  Mommy says that she asked Uncle Skylar to send them a new tuxedo kitten or kittens, and then she saw my picture on Save A Cat on Facebook, which uses Petfinder ads.  She told Daddy, and Daddy saw my sister's picture.  The next day, they came to get us both!

My favorite activities are kitten-watching (in the picture above) and snuggling with Mommy.  At night, I love snuggling right against her hand or her arm.  If I'm sleeping and wake up and don't feel her arm there, I move so that I'm touching her.  I also like hopping up on the recliner and snuggling with Daddy when he takes his after-work nap.  But mostly I like kitten-watching and trying to play with the kittens through the window!

Freya writes:

Wow, it's been a year already!  When Mommy and Daddy came to see us at Salem Friends of Felines, I didn't want to pay any attention to them, and squirmed to be put back on the snoozing shelf when they picked me up.  They were insistent on seeing me, though, and I'm so glad they did!  I remember talking the whole way home, putting my paws through the carrier door to grab Mommy's hand while my brother stayed in the back of the carrier.  I knew we were going somewhere good, and I wanted to be out to find out where it was!

Now, my favorite activities are playing with sockies, my blue hedgehog with the squeaker and bell in it, and annoying Rori.  I always want to play or snuggle with her, and she sometimes lets me, but not always.  I also love being brushed by Mommy, and will hop up every evening to snuggle and get my brushies!  I love my brushies!

Foster Friday/Photo Friday: Eyes

Cousteau and Tabby Boy write:

Being twins is fun! No one can tell us apart (except our mama cat) unless they look at our noses. Can you tell us apart?










Cousteau is the top picture and Tabby Boy is the bottom picture! Our personalities are different, but we look identical (except for a little line on Tabby Boy's nose, and slightly different shade of fur).

Cousteau writes:

I'm going on my home visit today! Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy are taking me to visit the lady and her roommate who want to adopt me. I don't know if I'll like the truck ride, because the other time I was in a car/truck was when I went on the horrific ride to the shelters and back, then to my foster home. I hope I'll like the lady, and she'll like me! I'm coming back to my foster home for another two weeks with mama cat, even if the visit checks out. All of us little boys are now 6 weeks old, but Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy want to wait until we're 8 weeks.

Little Bit writes:

All of my kids plus Boo and Michelle either have home visits scheduled or are in the process of having them scheduled! That's such good news, but no one has asked for me yet. I'm glad my kids will all have good homes, and that my little sisters will also, but sad that no one wants me to be their kitty yet.

My babies are being litter box trained at the moment, and I supervise every time Foster Mommy picks one of them up to put him in the box. There's two extra boxes set up now, each where they have been going potty. They're an Avon box lid and a tv dinner tray, with litter in them. Someone went poop and pee in the tv dinner tray one, plus others have gone pee right beside it (on a lap pad that's set up there). Cloud is adamant about using a spot underneath the couch, so Foster Mommy may set up another box there.

Boo and Michelle write:

We're going to a home together! We have a home visit scheduled a week from Saturday, and we're so excited about it!

Cloud and Tabby Boy:

We're going to have a home visit at the end of the month, and will go to a home together! We're glad we'll have each other to play with at our new home.

Squishy writes:

Foster Mommy hasn't heard back on times for my home visit, but she's got someone else lined up for me if the first lady doesn't come through.

Photo Friday