Muffin Pt1 - Foster Season 2010 has officially started in my zoo.

So, every year (starting a couple years ago, that is) I seem to find myself with a few foster cats from where I work over the late winter-spring seasons, and sometimes into the summer and beyond. Normally these only include tiny orphaned kitties, ranging from 1 day to 5 weeks old or so, perhaps with a mother in tow. It works for me 'cause my 3 kitties will accept tiny kittens as a minor annoyance, whereas other adult cats in their home are, to them, 100% intolerable. They let me know about this by hiding, growling and hissing for days on end, or until said kitties have disappeared from their home.

This year, however, is DIFFERENT.

Now I have a studio that my daddy graciously gave to me, which is completely detached from my apartment, so I can foster BIG kitties!!! My first target this year is Muffin. Muffin came from a gross situation where there were too many dogs, too many cats, too many... well, in my opinion, people lacking common sense. She had several babykitties that were only a few days old, and when another litter of babykitties around that age came in a couple of days later, Muffin took them on as well. WHAT A GOOD NATURED KITTY!!!! This is one of the many reasons I think Muffin deserves a stint in foster care.

Muffin is, simply put, a witch with a capital B. I can't tell whether it's that she truly dislikes people or just thinks confusing/hitting them is funny, but either way I want her to have a chance to live in a home by herself where she's not constantly being harrassed by... well... anybody. She's set up in my studio which is SUPER sunny during the day, and I even bought her her own AWESOME HUGE scratching post with a really nice large round bed on top, and a covered litter box she can hide in, and lots of delicious canned food to help her digestive system get all lubed up and working again. She has, after all, not really moved more than an inch or so in the last year. Oh, did I not mention that? Yeah, SHE DOESN'T MOVE. EVER. Except to hit. She likes hitting.

Muffin has, to my knowledge, minus a few runs around the cat room, been lying on the same shelf of the same cage for nearly a year (oh, also minus the 1-foot-distance daily trip or 2 to the food, water, and litter box). She just like... sleeps. Like... all day. every day. She's not an old cat, so this is NOT normal. You open her cage door to clean the cage, and she sits up... but she doesn't move otherwise, except to swat at you if you either try to touch her or as soon as you get the cloth in her cage to wipe it out. Personally I think she thinks it's funny... but there's also part of me that is certain she just hates me. But whatever. The point is, THIS KITTY NEEDS TO FREAKIN' MOVE. So the other day, when I went into the cat room and looked at her, I frowned, cocked my head, and thought, "man... I should take this bitch home for a while."

I went to work this morning with the intention of bringing Muffin home with me. It totally happened. She's been in my studio for approximately 11 hours... and she hasn't moved yet.

WTF MUFFIN? WTF?

Stay tuned for the MuffinProgress. Oh, and I'm calling her Victoria to her face from now on - I think part of the reason she's such a bitch is 'cause she thinks we're totally mocking her by calling her MUFFIN all the time. Poor thing. I will still refer to her here as Muffin until she starts acting like a non-bitch... you won't tell her, right??

And just to get an idea of what she looks like, here's her faux-toe, in which she is pretending to not be totally evil ---->

but it's a lie.

Ok, she's not evil. But she DOES need work... or someone who finds humor in hitting and good company in a cat who doesn't move or want attention.

and her bio on the shelter's website (she's still up for adoption, folks!!) can be found somewhere on this page:

http://www.northumberlandhumanesociety.com/cats.html

P.S. I say mean things about her, like for instance that she's a b-i-t-c-h, 'cause I think it's funny - not 'cause it's true. She's actually a really fun cat who just has some 'people issues' that I'm hoping we can work through together. If it works, she'll be a perfect pet - quiet, beautiful and not at all needy!