Hey folks, kinda need some help, and I’ve been sort of putting off writing this for a while, but things have kind of gotten to the point where I don’t really have a choice any more, so here goes.
Many of you (who read the rants back at the time) know that last July, our cat Diablo passed away. It was a sad time for us, to be sure, but what’s happened since then has been kind of rough. See, way back when Liz and I first got together, we had Just Diablo and Gandalf, a small Russian Blue that we adopted as a “buddy” to Diablo. Since then, we had a number of other cats come our way – some from family members who didn’t know what to do with them, and the three brothers from Texas when we didn’t want to let one of the local cats have kittens outside. In any case, when Diablo was around, Gandalf (who’s kind of a fraidy-cat) pretty much just stuck to his side and didn’t get messed with. Now that Diablo’s gone, however, we’ve had sort of a shift in the household, and now the other cats have a tendency to gang up on Gandalf. (for some reason) At the same time, for some reason or another, one of the three brothers (Vache) has started to fight with his brothers a little bit. Lord only knows why.
The thing that really baffles me about this is that ALL of these cats, individually, are incredibly well-tempered. They’ve never gotten pissed and taken a swipe, never gotten angry – They’re the most calm cats I can think of. But regardless, we’ve got a situation where inter-cat relations are not doing well, and I think the optimal solution here is to find new homes for Gandalf and Vache where they’re the only cats, and then they’ll do great. With that in mind, we’re kind of putting out the call to our Central California readers to see if anyone can help us out and take one of these kitties in. We had really good luck with finding some awesome people a few years ago when we had a similar problem, and I kind of feel like I can trust you guys. Liz and I have a real problem with taking these guys to a shelter, even if it’s one of the no-kill shelters or something like that. Despite the problems we’ve had getting them to get along, they’re still family, and I’d like to see them go to someone who can drop me an e-mail from time to time to let us know how they’re doing, you know? I’d just rather MEET the person taking them in than hope and pray the right person comes along to a shelter. In any case, with that out of the way, here’s a little bit about these two boys:
Gandalf
Gandalf is an 8-year old Russian Blue, which makes him just a tad smaller than other cats. He kind of looks perpetually like a kitten, really. He’s incredibly lovey – if you give him attention, he’ll purr loud enough to be heard in another room. Sometimes I’ll call Liz on my way home from work and I can hear him purring over the phone. He’s kind of skittish around new people, and finds some pretty interesting hiding places, but on his own, with nobody chasing after him and trying to beat up on him, he spends pretty much all his time out and about. Really, even WITH the other cats beating up on him, it’s kind of a rare thing that I don’t see him just lounging on the back of a chair.
Vache
Pronounced “Vosh”, (it’s French for “Cow”, on account of he looks like a cow) this is one of the three brothers we happened into as part of the “Cat Bomb” back in Texas. He’s a sweetheart, and will be perfectly happy just to chill on your lap for god knows how long. As with Gandalf, he’s one of the cats that makes himself scarce when company comes over, at least for a little while, but eventually comes out and makes friends with them. He’s also really soft, and kind of on the heavy side (though we’ve curbed that a bit over the last year) which comes in handy when using him as a pillow. Again, he’s incredibly well-tempered. I always see cats over at other peoples’ houses that would just as soon rip out your jugular as look at you, and these guys just don’t really have that instinct in ’em.
They’ve both had their shots, and they’re both neutered. We do ask that anyone who takes them keeps them as indoor cats only – they’ve never been outside, and they’re not really able to handle themselves outdoors. Plus there’s just a lot of potential health problems and the “disappearing cat” syndrome that goes along with indoor/outdoor cats, so just in the interest of keeping them safe, we’d ask that you keep them as indoors-only. Other than that, this is pretty much a call out to anyone in central California, since we’d be willing to drive up to a few hours to bring one of them to you if need be – when Kali was adopted, we drove her out to Santa Rosa – a good 2-hour drive. Obviously, we’d prefer it to be someone a TAD more local, but we really just want to find these guys some homes, so we’ll do what we need to. If you’re interested, and can help us out, drop me a line at gregdean@gmail.com and we’ll work out the details. Having to re-home a pet is a tough situation, but knowing he was with one of you guys would make us feel a lot better about it. All my experiences with the readers of this comic have been incredibly positive, and that goes a long way for me. Thank you again for all your support, folks!