About Us

The Menagerie Mom here! I won't bore you with many details about myself, though, as I'm not the interesting one in this furry family. After all, this blog (just like my happy life!) is all about my furbabies. But, having a set of opposable thumbs, my furbabies decided to let me do the typing on this blog. And so, here I am. If you want to know a little more about me, I give a couple tidbits in the About Me blurb at the right side of the blog. The long and short of me is that I really love animals, with an especial weakness for rescue animals and special needs animals. I also enjoy writing, reading, and arts and crafts. That's enough about me, though. Now, on to the stars of this show.

Astrid

Astrid is currently my oldest furbaby, as well as the only pup in the family. She came into my life in July of 2013, at roughly 5 months old, and her "maybe birthday" is celebrated on February 20th. Her history is an unknown, as she just showed up in my uncle's backyard one day and quite literally jumped into his arms. She was a bit underweight, had fleas and tapeworm, and was in need of some serious TLC. No one came forward to claim her, and so she quickly ended up hitching a ride home with me and my family.

Astrid actually has two mommies, as my sister and I live together and more or less share custody of her. She really doesn't mind the double attention at all. Since my sister and I took her in back in 2013, Astrid has doubled in size to just over 60 lbs. She is also the epitome of a young and active soul.

To help you get to know Astrid a little better, here are some of her favorite things:

• peanut butter
• Pawpaw (aka Grandpa, her mommies' dad)
• Gammy (Grandma) is pretty pawesome, too
• peanut butter
• chew bones
• running really fast
• jumping is pretty fun, too
• Pawpaw!
• cats (cats only please, as Astrid prefers not to befriend her own kind)
• cat food

Evan
 
Evan is my only boy. I first met him back in May of 2013, when he was just 1 lb and roughly 6 weeks old, which means his "maybe birthday" has been deemed as April 15th. When I first met Evan I worked at a cat clinic, and I came to work that one May day to find a carrier abandoned at the front door. Inside was a tiny kitten, who hissed and growled, was clearly suffering from an upper respiratory infection, displayed obvious hind limb paralysis, and was later named Evan. In a letter left with the carrier containing baby Evan, I learned that Evan had been a more or less semi-feral barn kitty, along with his mom-cat and litter mates. However, a coyote had made its way into the barn, and little Evan had been the only survivor, not to mention paralyzed during the attack.

At the clinic, Evan underwent weeks and months of tests and rehabilitation as a kitten (where the feisty little guy never hesitated to let us know when he'd had enough). Ultimately, though, it was determined that his hind limb paralysis was irreversible. Not much later, he ended up at home with me. Since then, my boy Evan has grown to be a healthy 10 lb mancat who struts his hind limb paralysis with pride. He's also outgrown much of his kittenhood feistiness, only occasionally using teeth and claws to get his way. And, I'm told he's a momma's boy, which is perfectly fine with me.

Some of my boy Evan's favorite things:

• following his mom around the house (all over the house, all the time)
• sleeping on his mom's clothes
• helping his mom cook
• begging for food 
• butter
• milk
• cheese
• meowing, mewing, chortling, chirping, and vocalizing in any and every other way he can
• hair ties (especially ones his momma has previously worn)
• climbing onto the couch (all by himself!) and watching out the window

Thimble

 

Thimble is my adorable, sweet little ladycat. I became her human momma in May 2014, after my grandmother found and rescued Thimble and her three brothers (all still in the family!) when they were roughly the ripe old age of 3 weeks. Her "maybe birthday" is May 10th, and yes, she is and always will be spoiled on that day.

When I first met my girl Thimble, she weighed less than half a pound. She was by far the runt of her litter, and when I met her she was hungry and weak, and the poor little girl had come down with a number of ailments unsurprising in an abandoned runt of a kitty. After much TLC, though, she has since grown into a healthy and ridiculously adorable little lady cat who now weighs in at nearly 10 lbs (far from underweight, but who's judging?). She is one happy, sweet, and - did I mention? - adorable little lady.

Thimble's favorite things:

• cuddling
• belly rubs
• begging for moist food, and sometimes actually eating it
• baby food (yes, human baby food)
• batting around anything and everything that will move
• talking to random corners in the house
• running around the house at night
• strolling along the kitchen counters
• closets
• bathtubs are pretty fun, too

Eddy 

Eddy is my happy, active, sweet, and wild concoction of a little girl (yes, she is a girl and I named her Eddy). Eddy is currently my most recently adopted rescue, as I brought her home  in July of 2015, at roughly 10 weeks of age. Her "maybe birthday" is celebrated on April 30th. After the passing of my sweet old girl Rosie, who in her geriatric years had become my beloved special needs girl, I felt inspired to reach out to a local rescue group about adopting another special needs cat. Within days I had a meet-and-greet with a little kitten who, just days after being trapped out in the country, had suddenly become afflicted with a head tilt and facial nerve paralysis. Long story short, by end of that week that little kitty was home with me and named Eddy.

Time has proven Eddy to be an adventurous, loving little girl with a permanent head tilt, facial nerve paralysis, and some serious dramatic flare. Like her big brother Evan, she touts her specialness with pride.

And what does Eddy like?

• running really, really fast
• climbing
• jumping
• turning anything and everything into a toy
• talking to anything and everything
• her momma (everyone else is free to keep their distance, thank you very much)
• sitting on her momma's lap, or shoulder, or back, or whatever else is available
• window blinds
• turning the space beneath the couch into a wasteland of lost items
  
• teasing the dog