Progress: Amtrack and Chris

I last posted a couple of weeks ago and included videos of Amtrack being an amazingly snuggly little boy, especially when considering how feral he was when we first met him at Austin Pets Alive!. Tracey Rice commented on how cute he is and it occurred to me that, if all you have seen is this blog, you likely don't know how he looked in the beginning. At that time, it was believed he had sarcoptic mange although his hair loss was later determined to be from a combination of ringworm and a flea allergy. Either way, he wasn't looking or feeling very good. He's come a long way since!

Then:

Now (playing with his big foster brother, BK):

We are also fostering Chris, another formerly feral kitten who learning to trust people. He's currently living in our spare bathroom until he can be trusted not to run hide under a bed. He's figured out that people = food = good! Here he is eating his dinner off my lap while enjoying being petted.

They're both making some amazing progress!

Amtrack: Aspiring Snuggler

A little over a month ago, just before we brought him home as a foster, Amtrack was suggested as a likely candidate for Austin Pets Alive!'s barn cat program. I think we can put that idea to rest.

Pardon the lighting. I had to reverse the camera on my phone so I couldn't use the flash. A bit of YouTube enhancement helped.

Welcome to Kelly and I's Blog!

Welcome to the new Hissy Kitty Committee Blog! This blog will be dedicated primarily to the exploits and adventures of our houseful of pets and fosters. The fosters are often cats and kittens from Austin Pets Alive! who are in need of socialization and thus the name of the blog. We delight in taking these hissy kitties and turning them into loving, affectionate, and adoptable pets. Who are we? We are me, Mitch, and my beautiful wife, partner in animal rescue, and partner in this blog, Kelly. 

What, you might ask, do I mean by a “houseful of pets”? We are currently blessed by the presence of Clover, our cat-loving hound dog, along with our cats Julius, Cleo, Sara, and B.K. (Backyard Kitty). As it so often goes, B.K. was a stray who we weren't going to name because we weren't going to adopt him. You can see how that worked out.

In addition, we are currently fostering young adult and formerly feral cats Xander and Willow, kittens Peanut, Butter, and Jelly, and our newest guest who just came into our house today, Amtrack. Photos of the fosters and more on all of the gang's stories will come in the next few days.

We hope you'll find some humor in the stories you'll read and that our enthusiasm for our companions and fosters will be contagious and enjoyable. In addition, I hope we can pass along some tips for working with under-socialized or feral cats and kittens. We have discovered in the last couple of years that we are blessed with an ability to work with cats like this and, even though we find that we're always learning, perhaps some of our experience and insights can help others.

Welcome aboard!

Mitch