From: jonb@Ingres.COM (Jon Berger)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: SF Bay Area: Ex-feral kittens need home
Date: 31 Aug 92 20:33:36 GMT
Reply-To: jonb@ingres.com
Distribution: ba
Organization: Ingres, an ASK Company

Ok, yet another plea for homes for kitties, but these particular kitties
are going to be _really_ special cats.  Really.  Trust me.

You may remember that, a couple of weeks ago, I posted a request for
suggestions about taming feral kittens.  This was because a co-worker of
mine had trapped a litter of them in her back yard (near the appropriately
named Wildcat Canyon Regional Park), and had somehow managed to convince
my wife and me to temporarily adopt two of them, in order to get them
used to being around people.

Well, thanks in part to the excellent suggestions I received here, and
in even larger part to my wife's extreme patience, we now have two very
beautiful kittens who, although still somewhat skittish, will eat from
our hands, tolerate petting, use their litter box in the approved manner,
and play happily with us and with each other.  The thing is, as hard as
we've tried to convince ourselves otherwise, we just can't keep them.
For one thing, we already have four cats, and if we get two more we're
going to start being referred to as "those people with all the cats"
by our neighbors.  For another thing, and probably a more important one,
two hyper-active kittens would be just too much of an imposition on Ivy,
the family matriarch, who is pushing 15 now.  She was reasonably tolerant
when we introduced Hugo and Bela two years ago, but I don't think she
wants to go through that again.

Both kittens have classic, perfect tabby markings, and they're going to
be really gorgeous cats.  One is a gray female, the other an orange male.
I'd really love to find someone who could take both of them -- they're
extremely friendly with each other -- but I have enough of a grip
on reality to not insist on that point.  I _will_ insist that whoever
adopts them have them neutered, but I'll make that a bit easier by gladly
volunteering to pick up the tab for it.  They haven't had shots yet,
but I'll take care of that too.  If a couple of months' supply of kitten
chow and litter would be any inducement, it can be arranged; I was a
college student once myself and I know what it's like to live on a budget.

The kittens haven't really decided that we're their special human pals,
which is probably good, because what I hear about ferals is that they
will get very attached to one or two people but remain suspicious about
everyone else.  Whoever adopts these cats will end up with some very
loyal and devoted friends.

I'll be out of town next week, but anyone who is interested in seeing 
these kittens or discussing adopting them can contact Pat Gillenwater,
my co-worker who started this whole mess (well, I guess papa tomcat had
a _bit_ to do with it too), at gillnh2o@ingres.com.

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   -__ __ /_   Jon Berger              "If you push something hard enough,
  //_// //_/   jonb@ingres.com          it will fall over."
_/ ---------                              - Fudd's First Law of Opposition