We adopted 2 adorable kitties last Saturday the 9th of Jan 2010 from MEOW Cat Shelter, Sassafras, AKA Fras and Sasquatch, AKA Buddy. After letting our last kitty go last March '09, we (I mostly) decided it was time to have little feet running around again. We have had kitties for the last 25 years and they were our kids, part of our home, part of our life, it was so quiet without those purrs and little kisses.

Though it's been a short time they have given us very calming purrs and lots of energy, as I can't get them to sit still for a picture. We have lots of time and will enjoy their presence forever.

I want to thank the staff and the foster parents for the diligent care and love for these kitties. They are home forever.

Thank-you all,

P & D Shea

It has been a little over a month since we adopted Mugsy “Muggs”, formerly known as Braveheart, from MEOW. My husband and I are overjoyed to share with you how well he has adjusted to his home, and especially to us and our resident cats. Muggs was born feral and had been at MEOW without a permanent home for over a year, and is consequently still very wary of humans. The good folks at MEOW explained to us that it might be a long time before Muggs would readily come to us or allow us to shower him with attention. We honestly prepared ourselves for weeks of isolation, and months of patience and hard work with him. However, we understand now why he was originally named Braveheart! This little guy isn’t afraid of anything! It became clear to us after a week of isolation and successful encounters with us and our resident cats (formerly “Shadow” and “Mischief”, also adopted from MEOW) that Muggs was ready to begin easing into the family. He wanted to be a part of the action so much in fact, that it was rather hard to contain him to just one area! We cannot believe the transformation Muggs has made over the past month. He want from a scared cat cowering in the corner of our spare bathroom, to the cat who runs all over the house and NEVER hides (even when the vacuum is on!), comes to us for “pets” when called, and spends his days following me around the house as I do chores. He also follows one of our other cats around and likes to copy everything he does – now we know where the term “copy cat” comes from!

Although he can still be a bit skittish and wary of other people, Muggs continues to improve with each passing day and we are so excited to keep watching him develop into the affectionate, confident cat we know he is!

Thank you MEOW, for introducing us to all three of our wonderful boys!

Best Regards,

Michele Gowin

Last year, my family adopted a shy little kitty named Heidi on February 13, 2009. We renamed Heidi and now call her Juliet because she is such a pretty little kitty and my best friend has a cat named Romeo. Juliet was a little crazy at first and had a few incidents, like the time she hid in the fireplace or when the dogs tried to eat her food. After a while Juliet calmed down quite a bit and soon she began following our bigger dog Charlie around the house, and sleeping on the dog beds. Even Molly, (our other dog.) who hated Juliet at first has grown to accept her. Now Juliet is very cuddly and playful, and is definitely not the kitty that hid in the fireplace.

Thanks for letting us adopt such a wonderful cat,

The Goodson Family

My partner Adam and I adopted Buddy Big on September 2nd and want to share some photos with you and update you on how he is doing. He is such a one-of-a-kind spirit and fabulous addition to our family--we could not be happier. He makes us laugh every day and is always around for a furry cuddle and love bite (we discovered very shortly after we brought him home that he shows affection with gentle nibbles!). His name has gradually morphed to "Biggy" and he responds with a switch of his tail whenever he hears us talking about him.

He wasted no time laying claim to his new home and making a spot for himself on any available lap and in between us in bed at night. Our vet has helped us develop a healthy diet and weight-loss regimen for Biggy and we are proud to announce that he lost 1 pound in September! We are planning to help him drop one pound per month until he gets to his goal weight. He is very frisky and playful and does not let a day slip by without showing his scratching post who is boss, attacking anything that wiggles under a blanket, and playing games of "laser cat" with his papa.

He has a few bad habits that we are trying to gently break him of but it is hard because he is so cute! He begs relentlessly for people food (but we are staying strong!) and is prone to climbing in to the dishwasher to try to lick dirty dishes whenever he hears us open it. He has also been caught many times climbing in to the fridge to see what's for dinner.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos and Biggy sends lots of love nibbles to his old family at MEOW. I am so thankful there are people like you running a place like MEOW to give cats like Biggy a safe space and a chance to find their "forever home". - Andrew

Hello! This is Rob & Margaret. We wanted to give you an update on the three adoptions we made a month ago on Nov. 9, 2008. First, the kittens are doing wonderfully. Kyle we renamed to Dora, either short for Dora the Explorer, Adorable, or Isadora. Irene is now Honey because she's the color of honey & short for Honeysuckle because she still suckles on her sister occasionally. They came home with a little cold, but are all recovered now and zooming around the house, chasing & wrestling with each other, us, all their toys, and Cliff. They are SOOOO adorably cute and this past month has just been PACKED full of hilarious antics and sweet moments. They have such different personalities, it's really amazing they came from the same litter.

The only downside of course is that they're growing and they won't stay tiny forever. :o( We weighed them yesterday on their 4 mo. birthday and they are at 3 lb. 11 oz. & 4 lb. 3 oz. Dora has grown over a pound & Honey a pound and a half since we got them!

Finally, Cliff...he is just amazing; he has come light-years from when we got him. He still has his moments of being overly frightened when you come up to him--usually only when he's fully awake, and he is almost always nervous close to people--but we've been able to get him to the point where he actually enjoys being petted in his little cat bed, which is his safe spot where he runs to when he's scared. He actually closes his eyes, gets into it, and pushes back while kneading the air a little sometimes. He even allows us to pet him while he's eating without too much trepidation!

We haven't really been able to get him to purr at all, but he certainly isn't afraid to use his voice or wander around the house. He is a loud and constant meower. It isn't too bad at night, but we're getting used to it. We bought a Feliway plug-in to hopefully ease his anxiety a bit. Most other times, even with loud noises & lots of movement around him, he seems perfectly content and will sit there slowly blinking and looking around. Oh, and we've gotten him to PLAY! He LOVES chasing the laser pointer and the dangly-string-attachments-on-a-stick toy! He even forgets himself and runs within a few feet of us before realizing how close he is to a human and scampering back under the table to swat at it again. It's so great to see some of that kitten come out of the poor boy who I'm sure didn't get that experience down in New Orleans when he was growing up.

We're also very happy that he gets along so incredibly well with the kittens. He tolerates it for a short time when they want to sleep with him, they chase each other around a bit at night, and we've even caught him wrestling with Dora a couple times! Only the occasional hiss when one of the kittens inadvertently violates his personal space a little too much.

It was tough sorting through the couple hundred pictures we have, but attached is our best picture of Cliff and a few obligatory cute kitten pictures. Enjoy! :o)

Thank you so very much for the opportunity to adopt Cliff, Dora, and Honey! I sure hope the spots we opened up in your shelter allow more wonderful kitties to find their new families! - Rob & Margaret

Dolly and I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and all the homeless wrinkle dogs. Our mum said we have presents on Christmas day but I do not know what that means. Dolly said she is not sure either as she only came to mum last October. Mum yells at us sometimes when we get too rough in the house, last Saturday we knocked over a candle and broke the glass container, and she said she will not replace it, and that we were a pair of ruffians...bark! bark! Bark! Sometimes I get fed up with Dolly licking me, mum says she is a licking fool. And I know Dolly gets fed up with me sometimes when I want to play and she doesn't. But mum plays and we have fun. We do not like it when mum has guests because they sit on the couch and that is where Dolly and I go … And with the guests there is no room up there for us. I am Oliver Twist and she is Orphan Anne and she is on a diet...Bark! Bark! Bark! I am not … We are very happy in our new home and we have become good buddies as you can see by the photo. Love, Dolly and Oliver

I adopted Doorstop in the summer after he had spent 6 months with a wonderful foster family who named him Dudley. Dudley needed to be fostered because he was getting very stressed at the shelter. Unfortunately for the foster family he didn't always enjoy the company of their other cats and so they reluctantly let me take him.

In his current home Dudley has the place to himself much of the time as I work long hours during the week and this seems to work well though he is always very pleased to see me when I come in and almost always sleeps on my bed at night!

I have owned many cats and have loved them all dearly but Dudley is very very special. I have never had a cat that gets up to so much mischief as this picture shows. He makes me laugh on a daily basis! Thank you,

Hi MEOW
I know that maybe you hear a lot of the adoptions that didn't work out, so I just wanted to let you know how wonderfully mine did. A year ago, I adopted a little feral girl from you. I had just put my cat of 13 years to sleep, and I needed just the perfect fit for my very bossy alpha male named B. The volunteers directed me to two females who they said would be a good fit with my cat. One was Honey Bunny, a very terrified little feral tortie who really wanted nothing to do with me. But since she was still young, I figured that I could work with her. So I bundled her up and took her home. I tried to separate the two cats and let them sniff under the bedroom door as directed by everyone. But she shot out a few hours after getting home. B hissed a bit and then they raced around all night like they were old friends.

She was shy and spooked easily at the beginning. She is now named Ding Ho (for the dry cleaners next door - I always say that my cat is the only cat with a business card). As you can see from the photos, she has quite the life - hanging with her big brother and watching to see if that dang bird will ever leave his cage. I was in contact with her wonderful foster mom at the beginning who gave me great advice about how to best handle a feral. It was great to get a little more information about her background (she was picked out of a pile of manure!). Dingy is really happy and the biggest sweetheart. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate her - and you guys for all that you do! Thanks much! - Jen

Dear MEOW
On January 2, 2009, I came to MEOW in great pain after the recent death of my dog of nine years. I live alone and work full time, so I was interested in adopting an independent adult cat. When Dot (#06F-13RA-584-81) and I were introduced in one of your greeting rooms, something about her gentle purring told me that she and I were ideal for each other. During the first few weeks in her new home, Dot spent a lot of time sleeping under my bed or in some hidden corner. She had been at Meow for six months before I adopted her, so I new it would take her some time to adjust to a new home, a new human, and new rules. I too, needed some time to adjust. As the days past, Dot began to blossom out of her "Private Investigator" shell. She no longer seemed like a "Dot", so I renamed her Lily. It began with her letting me hold her for a few seconds. Pretty soon, Dot was following me from room to room, quietly curling up on the carpet.

As trust began to build between us, Dot began snuggling up to me on the couch, curling up in my lap, and sleeping on my bed at night. Slowly, we healed each other. Now, seven months after her adoption, Lily is a very happy and content feline. When I come home from work -- or anytime I come home-- Lily greets me at the door, meowing, purring, and rubbing. She enjoys being held and often comes when I call her. She is still an independent girl who loves to play -- either with me or by herself -- and we seem to be a perfect fit for each other. - Thank you, Kimberly Stanton and Lily

The little mom (in the back) and her giant son (in the front) came to me over Labor Day shortly after my MEOW rescue of over a decade, "Miss Scarlett" made her trip over the rainbow bridge. I am their fourth home, through no fault of their own. They have settled in remarkably well and taken over the condo, including my antique fainting couch, no longer MY reading corner. Their most fitting names evolved - Janey is now "Koukla" which is from the Greek "Koukla Mu" which means "my little doll" and Jake is now "Apollo" for the Ancient Greek God of sunlight (he's very red!) , healing, prophecy and MANLY BEAUTY! The name SO fits this big boy. They have landed in their forever home and are loved, spoiled, animated, active youngsters who love cuddling, all toys, running down the hall and watching the birds from the picture windows in our home. - Roxie