Fred and Barney Update

(photos at end of post)

I mentioned Fred and Barney a little while back. They are the two kitty bandits who showed up on our doorstep at the end of August looking for an easy mark. I just wanted to give an update:

We tossed the idea back and forth about bringing them into our home, but both of us really wanted to keep that option as a last resort. So, we've been feeding them and spending time with them daily on our back deck. We took them in to the vet to get exams and shots. All the while we've been talking to our various friends and acquaintances and hoping and praying for a better solution... It's not that we couldn't bring them in, it's just that the two dogs and two cats who already co-reside with us would undoubtedly be quick to let the new kids know that, not only were they not welcome, but there would be hell to pay for an undetermined amount of time. (Brief encounters at the back door and kitchen window which involved much hissing, barking and posturing confirmed that this would be the case.)

We thought about taking them to a shelter, but there are like six months waiting lists at all of our local ones and some of them euthanize. These guys are perfectly healthy, adorable kittens. We just couldn't bear that option. So, we've been scouting vigorously, albeit unsuccessfully, for a safe, happy home for them.

About six weeks have passed. It's starting to get nippy at night around here. We truly already have our hands full, but with heavy hearts and mixed emotions, we gave in to the idea late last week that we'd have to go ahead and bring them in. We made appointments for both of them yesterday to go back to the vet's and get neutered. We planned to stop and buy a new litter box and some toys on the way home - and then have a long preparatory talk with our current brood about acceptance and sharing and being more fortunate and all of that. (We both expected that talk to be pretty one sided.)

Things were going as planned. Fred and Barney came up yesterday morning expecting their usual breakfast and instead got placed in a kitty carrier and taken to the vet to be "fixed." This was a solo mission for me because Joanne was still at the hospital from having worked a night shift.

Fred, who we've gotten to know as the "sweet, quiet" counterpart to his precocious, playful brother Barney, was uncharacteristically vocal and told me all about how wrong I was for tricking him and sticking him into the carrier. The ten minute trip to the vet's office felt like it took about three times that long. Barney, much to my surprise, didn't say anything. He let Fred do all the talking. I tried to explain to them about how it was for the best and all that, but they just weren't buying it.

In the meantime, back at the ranch, two nurses (both friends of Joanne's whom she works with) had offered to adopt them separately as indoor cats! After I dropped the boys off she called me on my cell phone and told me.

Woo hoo! Change of plans!

We picked Fred and Barney up around 5:30 last night and drove them each to their new happy homes. We've already gotten progress reports that they are fitting in nicely. They've both met their new families, used their new litter boxes, had dinner, and purred, and purred some more. They've also gotten lots-o-scratches :o)

So, six weeks, a lot of worrying, and an easy grand later and the two, as Weese says, "free kittens" have each gone to their respective new, warm, cozy forever homes. I'd say this saga has ended in a smashing success.

Meet Fred (newly named Oliver or "Ollie" - which fits him nicely. He always wears his tux. He's so formal and sophistiCATed:

And Barney, his silly-willy-goofball brother. He has retained the name we gave him:

Now I just have to do two things:

1. Convince Petsmart to take back the $200 Igloo I bought for them just in case they might be stranded outside when it rained. It did rain. Many times in the past six weeks or so. Did they go in the Igloo? No. Not to sleep. Not to get out of the rain. Not for nothing. They preferred the shelter of the old beaten up tarp which covers our wood pile. Go figure.

2. I think we should change the little flag in our side yard. It's getting a bit faded and weathered, but more importantly I think it sends the wrong message! I'm pretty sure those two saw it and said to one another, "Hey! It's a sign. Look! It's like a safe house or something. C'mon. This way!"

Yep. That flag has to go. Maybe I'll change it to something seasonal like a WITCH! A really mean looking one!