Hear ye, Hear ye! Raptor has been adopted!

Hear ye, hear ye: Raptor has been adopted!

That's right, people, get those paws in the air! Our little dinosaur is living happily ever after! You can see her story on Big City Little Kitty from the day she showed up screaming, and was named Raptor,

to the day she was ready for her furrever home.

Raptor DID find her valentine!

Her new mama tells me "She really had no problem transitioning, and was cuddling with us that night!" YES! I was a little worried, but I had a pretty good feeling about this after their first meet & greet! And...they kept her name! Raptor's living the dream! Cat dancers,

toys,

and she's keepin' it real on mom's med school books!

 Most importantly, "she's definitely a keeper," says her mama!

 I could not be happier to hear this fantastic news! Thank you for all those incredibly skilled snuggles and nuzzles, Raptor. Enjoy your happy ending, furrever and ever. 

xoxoxo,

Big City Little Kitty

Hey, remember us? We're all adopted!

Hey! Remember us? We're the half pipe kittens! 

You first met us during "Recon,", 

then we were reunited, and soon we were looking for our furrever homes!

While we were learning about living indoors, our mom, who prefers her outdoor lifestyle, was spayed and returned to her colony. 

I'm Bija, formerly Drei, and I was adopted first! 

I love my new mom. She's so nice and she's a really good snuggler.

She's also a yoga teacher! I've been working on my poses!

I help her plan her classes,

And I'm showing her some new moves.

Long story short, you're looking at a happy ending. Over to you, my sisters!

Hi! It's Temperance (tortie, formerly Oki) and Clarice (black, formerly Teter). We were adopted too!

I settled in pretty quickly.

I was a little scared, I thought it best to hide in the litter box until I knew it was safe. 

Then, I saw the cat dancer! And I knew this place was going to be great!

I'm pretty comfortable now!

We both are! We're living happily ever after:)

Sweet Dreams!

The Shona Kittens!

Big City Little Kitty welcomes a new set of kittens for the summer of 2012, the Shona kittens! 

I helped a woman in my neighborhood with a TNR project and, well, kittens happen! I wrote a paper this semester on the naming customs of the Shona People of Zimbabwe. Names are very meaningful among the Shona. I am using names from an anthropologist's study on names in the Shona Society of Zimbabwe. The author is Livingstone Makondo and the study is called "An Investigation into the Anthropynyms of the Shona Society".  In the study, Makondo looked at personal names, this is where I have taken names for the new kittens.

Rufaro, “Joy” defined by Makondo as “a name that echoes the joyful mood at birth, an indication that the child was much awaited.” This name fits his personality; he is so full of energy and fun! He loves to play and is constantly pouncing and wrestling. He brings joy to everyone that sees him. He also loves to snuggle up with is mom and his litter mates.

This little girl is Chipochendenga, “A gift from [God] heaven”, described by Makondo as “Acknowledgement that the child must be a gift from God because they have never seen such a cute child.” But you can call her Chipo, “Gift”. Chipo is a cute little muffin. She is currently struggling through some parasite issues, but she’s taking her medicine like a good girl and I hope she is feeling better soon.

This tiny little guy is Tapiwa, “We have been given”.  Makondo says Tapiwa is “a name that is a sign that the child is one of nature’s gifts.” He was so tiny when found I was very worried. He is also struggling with parasites but with medicine I hope he will be well soon. He is having a hard time putting on weight and keeping food down. He is absolutely adorable and incredibly sweet and cuddly. He loves being held and cries to be picked up!

This is their mama, Olivia. She needs a Shona name, in addition to the name given to her by her care taker, so I call her Vimbai. Vimbai means “Trust” and according to Makondo the name “asks for transparency and deep thought before others condemn the namers”. I choose this name for many reasons. 

Vimbai and I are working together to care for her kittens and, even though she is incredibly protective and defensive, she and I both have to trust each other to a certain degree for our safety and the health and safety of the kittens. I also like that this name requests transparency and deep thought before condemning others. I think this is a wonderful thing to remember and important in caring for all beings. Vimbai is a very powerful name for a mama with such strong character. She is fiercely protective of her kittens as well as loving and nurturing to them.

In the spiritual hierarchy of the Shona religion, family spirits, called Vadzimu, are family members that have passed on. According to Kamudzandu, it is believed they stay close to their family as spirits and continue to provide their immediate family with guidance throughout their lives. Maybe Old Man Hemingway can play this role for his colony and these kittens. The Shona see ancestors as closer to God and send all prayers through them. They view death as the beginning of a divine life, not an end to life; therefore they have high respect for death. Traditional Shonas believe caring and love continues after death. They believe the dead live in a spiritual form and are considered to be “the living dead or living timeless”.  The Shona believe the living and the living dead co-exist. Perhaps Hemingway lives on as a spiritual guide, Vadzimu, to his colony and the Shona kittens.

For more pictures and information see them on my Flickr site.

Wish us luck! Check back for more updates later!

Sources for Shona information:
1. Makondo, Livingstone. 2009 An Investigation into the Anthropynyms of the Shona Society. University of South Africa.
2. Kamudzandu, Israel. 2010 Abraham As Spiritual Ancestor: A Postcolonial Zimbabwean Reading of Romans 4. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.

Dungaree and Burlap!

Burlap and Dungaree are from a TNR Project we did in Queens and Brooklyn. I teamed up with Shawn, of North Brooklyn Cats, and we TNR'd 20 adults and took in these 2 for foster to adopt. They were trapped in a back yard in Astoria, Queens and were too tiny to put back:) So they will be fostered here, by Big City Little Kitty, until they find their loving, forever homes!

Here they are the day we trapped them!

This is Burlap!

And this is Dungaree!

They both had eye infections, but they were treated and it has cleared up completely

Here they are at the recovery space before they moved in with me

They came with a little stinkiness on them, so they got baths!

Burlap was not happy!

Dungaree was the first cat in the trap!

He didn't even budge when the trap snapped behind him,

he just kept eating!

He is a little sugar muffin, so sweet, and he loves a good snuggle:)

Burlap was the LAST cat in a trap! Her and her mother!

She was hesitant to make friends with me at first, but is coming around.

She happily eats while sitting on my lap,

purrs when I lay her on her back on my lap for chin and belly rubs,

and LOVES to play with toys (even if she has to climb on me to get to them)

Stay tuned for more adventures by these guys!

Welcome to the good life!

More pictures can be found on my Flickr Photostream

and in the Dungaree and Burlap set

World Wide Vegan Bake Sale in Brooklyn April 23, 2011

Its that time of year!

Time for World Wide Vegan Bake Sale Week April 23 - May 1!

This year we will be participating on April 23rd, 2011

and proceeds will go to local NYC rescuers:

North Brooklyn Cats

Eva P

Chris G

and yours truly,

Big City Little Kitty

We will be at Natural Vitamins New York

at 671 Manhattan Avenue

between Nassau and Normal

in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

April 23, 2011

from 1 pm to 5 pm

It wasn't easy getting approval from the

manager of Natural Vitamins New York...

(It was nap time:)

But he finally came around

The last time we teamed up for a vegan bake sale, we raised money for the

The TOBY Project!

This time the proceeds will help us with our expenses for

shelter and street rescues, fostering, TNR efforts and vet care.

Here is a little bit about what we do...

Let's start with some of the lucky ones

that were pulled off the euth list,

fostered and found new homes

They come in all sizes:)

Nearly 7,000 NYC cats did not get this chance in 2010

and were euthanized at the city shelter

and that does not count the ones that never made it to the shelter

But thanks to local rescue efforts

many are now safe and snug in their new furrever homes

Little Treize is among the lucky ones

As is Wallaby:)

In addition to helping cats from the shelter,

we perform TNR (trap, neuter, release)

However, any of you involved in TNR know it goes more like...

Transport, Trap, Transport,

Hold, Feed, Care,

Transport,

Spay/Neuter, Vaccinate, De-worm, Transport, Recover,

(some recovery is longer and harder than others)

Transport, Release, Worry, Feed, Continue feeding and caring for...forever

And one thing we know for sure, where there's one feral cat...

There's a colony of feral cats

And they need food and shelter year round, in all types of weather

and even during holidays and vacations:)

Some are close and easy to get to and some are far

Colony caretakers manage colonies year round providing food and shelter

and digging out these shelters during and after snow storms

This young lady will never have to worry about where to

safely hide her kittens again, she was trapped and spayed 2 years ago

and remains at her warehouse safe and happy

And then there are the friendlies

The ones on the street that are not feral

The ones that walk right up to your door and ask to come in

or climb up your leg after they have been dumped in a parking lot

purring "Please help me, I promise I'll be good"

And the young ones from the feral colonies that still have a chance

to trust humans, become sweet, loving pets and be spared

the life of a street cat

Some take a little work,

some take one head rub,

but ALL take A LOT of FOOD!!!

As the kittens get bigger, the food bowls get bigger

and that means the food bills get bigger!

And in addition to the food, there are snap tests (FIV/FELV),

vaccinations and wellness checks at the vet

Sick ones need vet evaluations, medicine,

fluids and special treatments like a nebulizer

The little ones need special formula

and lots of bottles!

And then there are the injured ones, like Spice here

Spice was found injured in a snow storm and had to have his leg amputated

(Don't worry, he was adopted:)

Little Rozza, only days old,

was found in the dirt by a dog

The dog's owner saw him hanging out of her dog's mouth

and reached out for help

He was nursed back to health

Fattened up and found a good home

And then there are the mystery illnesses

The ones you throw everything at and nothing works

This involved getting multiple rounds of blood work and medicine,

and lots of nursing care,

until bloods came back normal, and they did:)

(Don't worry about them either,

they are safe and happy in their new homes now too;)

And of course there are other injuries,

like broken legs

This guy had a new mama before he even had a cast!

I brought him from the shelter, to my office

(where my coworker said "I WANT HIM"), to the vet

And burned paws

Don't worry, he got a new home too:)

Sadly, we are not able to save them all

May the ones we have lost rest in peace

And the ones we save live happily ever after!

If you can't make it to the bake sale,

but you like what we are doing and want to help

please make a donation by clicking the "DONATE"

button on the right panel of this page

If you would like to adopt one of our fosters, please visit our petfinder page

For information on how to adopt, visit our petfinder information page

All donations will be distributed equally

between North Brooklyn Cats (Shawn and Lisa),

Eva P, Chris G and Big City Little Kitty (Stephanie)

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us

(and our lucky ones) a little better:)

=^..^=