Callie's Sanctuary

This is Callie. She's the sweetest little calico girl, purchased from Atwood's by our neighbors and allowed to breed at will. After a couple of years, Callie got tired of scrounging in the fields for every meal, and she took up residence at our house where she knew she'd be fed. Callie had never been spayed, and she had a couple of litters before we had her vaccinated and fixed. That's where we got Baby Kitty, Molly, Meep, Curly, Patty, Chester (rest his little kitty soul), Sasha Foo, and several others who have since been adopted.

When Callie showed up, a sweet little tiger striped kitty, who we creatively named Tiger, came with her. We never knew if Tiger was one of Callie's babies grown up. Tiger had a litter, and we then had her spayed.

Tiger had her kittens somewhere in the pasture, and we never found her hidey hole. The kittens eventually came up to the house to start eating, but by that time they were pretty big, so we never caught them to socialize them. Frankly, at that time, I didn't know how to go about doing that. That's changed, don't ya know.

After Tiger was spayed, she disappeared. Her litter grew up and started having litters. That was last summer. We trapped some and had them altered, did away with some (tears shed over it) and some are still around. We now have about a dozen cats outside, completely wild, all descendants of Tiger and maybe Callie.

Last summer, Hubby found two litters in the shed, brought them in the house, we bottle fed them, and they turned into Nut, Cheerio, Bear, Biff, and all those other cats who tear up the house for me.

We've had some odd kitties come into the mix: Lucky Dog, Mr. E Ted, a number of Toms who come to visit; don't forget the puppies.....

Would you believe I used to hate cats??? We had an unhappy old tabby cat named Katy who would just as soon eat your face as be petted. She made our lives miserable for 12 years until I finally couldn't take it any more. She was getting more cranky with every year, and had started losing clumps of hair. Poor Katy was such a miserable old cat that I finally sent her on. I never wanted another cat after my experience with her. Can you guess that has changed?

So, now I have a house full of cat who would make excellent pets for other people. I have placed a few, but it's been touchy getting information out of potential adoptive parents. I don't want to just shove them into any situation. I only want the best homes for them.

After the massive upset I felt over Honey Nut and Cheerio going to the mystery place, my hubby started looking online at pet placement sites. From there, we started talking about creating an adoption organization. I've been looking at other organizations' adoption applications and contracts. These look good. This option will get me the information I need up front without having to try to pry it from people. Yeah. That sounds good.

Now it's got me thinking about future rescues and adoptions. I need a place to keep rescued kitties. I can't keep introducing new cats into the house without totally disrupting the Kitty Fung Shui. I already have a problem with Baby Kitty standing up in the litter box to pee. I get it, BK. No more new cats in the house. The solution: a garage.

This will have to be a new home requirement. My little dubble-wyde mobile home didn't come with a garage, and we never got around to building one (us, build a garage? what a joke!). But, yes, a garage would be an option. Roomy cat dwellings (not those cramped boxes at Petsmart) and lots of things to play and climb on in the garage.

Yeah, big cat dreams. It cold happen!

Since Callie is the reason for all this mess that I have, I'm naming my future cat rescue Callie's Sanctuary.