Animal Success Stories
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CA - Tempy (MCR)
CA - Tempy (MCR)

We had a long friendship with our last Maine Coon, Koyaani though we adopted her as an adult. Her name meant "life out of balance" in Hopi, and indeed she had been homed and rehomed many times. She was, in the words of her foster, the reincarnation of film star Mae West. She came to us with some serious health issues, and we nursed her back to health over time, got her off of some of her meds with modifications to the home environment (air filtration system, safe spaces to chill and de-stress, and were utterly shattered emotionally when she passed of chronic cardiopulmonary disease during the apex of COVID lockdown. Our local Maine coon rescue also shut down as Elaine Nojima finally retired and Maine coon adoptions in Oakland were taken over by Cat Town.

It had been over a year, and we weren't sure we were ready emotionally. As with all things, our home was ready to accept, but our hearts were still mending. We had another young rescue, Carrot, that we had rescued from a dumpster in Watkins Glen NY, and she was used to having a companion with her to play.

More or less by coincidence while on Facebook, I saw a post from a rescue org that I had joined of this cute little floof with the longest tail I had ever seen. I have always had a soft spot for black cats, especially knowing that some folks won't adopt them for superstition. In a whirlwind of events, we loaded up the cat and adopted "Tempy" which was short for temporary. She had been named after various witchy names, and we settled on a suitable name of Kiki, the benevolent witch from Hayao Miyaz6ake's Kiki's delivery service.

She can, when she feels like it, shake my hand, stand up, and she frequently visits my lap when I am seeing patients from home. Sometimes I think they keep coming back for her and not for me! She and her housemate Carrot enjoy watching birds and squirrels out of our window together, and they play hide and seek, taking turns to hide and find one another. When we bought our first house, we basically selected one built like an enormous cat castle, so it has been a heartwarming adventure.

Kiki did grow into her tail, though it is still extra fluffy. She truly is a magical being.


CA - Hadley (MCR)
CA - Hadley (MCR)

Hadley was my first foster through Maine Coon Rescue. He came from a breeder who was unable to care for him. Hadley seemed to have had a traumatic first experience with the world. He didn’t know how to be a cat. For example, he didn’t know how to groom. He tried, but he’d end up soaking portions of himself and then leaving the entire other portions completely dry. We started calling them chaos baths. Also, for Hadley, almost everything was new, and new was scary. He spent the first several weeks in our extra room hidden among my husband’s guitars. We’d see his big, round eyes, and then he’d slowly shrink back into the shadows.
After a few weeks, he started to come out of hiding and then slowly started interacting with us. My husband was the first person he connected with, then our kids, and then me. Our Maine Coon, Maru, was also a huge help to Hadley, and they became fast friends. Hadley learned how to be a cat and a human companion from Maru. He watched Maru and copied whatever Maru did. Hadley’s chaos baths became less and less chaotic. Soon, Maru and Hadley were playing with and bathing each other. They became like brothers. It is sweet to see how much they care about each other, and it’s rewarding to watch Hadley learn from and play with Maru. They can be bumbling and goofy at times, so bring a lot of laughter into the house. Hadley is truly a gentle giant. He’s about 18 pounds and is still growing. He’s tall and long and has a massive head. We refer to him as the house tiger.
I felt very special when Hadley finally connected with me. I remember peeking into the pet carrier at the airport when I first picked Hadley up, seeing a humongous cat head with the most vulnerable eyes. I felt an overwhelming urge to hold him close and make him feel safe, but I knew it would just scare him. If I’m honest, I remember thinking that he’d already stolen my heart.
Hadley and Maru continued to build their brotherly relationship, and Hadley continued to become closer to us. New things were still very scary to him, though. We realized how far Hadley had come and how safe he felt, likely for the first time in his life. We also realized how much we loved Hadley. We could not bring ourselves to put him through another experience of having to get used to new things, of being scared again. We realized we knew Hadley was home the moment he came through our door. So, we made it official at the end of 2021—a very special holiday gift to the family.
 
Kindly,
Lisa


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