Adoptions: Mika, Angel & Snowball

For the Thanksgiving weekend, it seems appropriate to post on sanctuary news we always feel thankful for: the finding of a forever home for one or more of our residents. This month we've been able to bid farewell and good luck to three sanctuary cats.

Happy, high energy, other cat slapping Mika has now found a home where she can enjoy human company without having to smack her way through all the feline riffraff in the front courtyard to make sure she gets her fair share (i.e. all) of the love on offer.

The other adoption story has a personal connection for me, since after adopting mother and son duo Daphne and Leo, I always felt a little pang at having had to leave sister Angel behind. Now, not only has Angel found a home, but she was able to be placed with her friend and former housemate from her pre-sanctuary days, Snowball.

The last time I saw Angel before she went home, she was more animated and cheerful than I've ever seen her. She purred, she rubbed, she head butted and she danced. As much as I try to be wary of projecting human thoughts on a feline brain, I couldn't help wondering if she knew something was up - something good.

photo by Debbie

matatabi

The subject of today's post is not a who but a what: meet matatabi.

Matatabi (またたび), silvervine in English, is a plant native to east Asia. In Japan, it's popular for its entertaining, catnip-like effect on cats.

I'd heard about it but never seen it until my friends Vincent and Ayako brought a package of silvervine twigs back from a recent trip to Japan.

My cats liked it well enough, but the response was hardly electric. I was curious to see if I'd have any better luck with the cats at the sanctuary, so last night I came armed with one of these supposedly magic twigs. When I showed it to Karen, Doug and Ann, they looked unconvinced. It didn't help that the first few cats I tried presenting it to just gave me a look as if to say "Uh, yeah... it's a stick."

And then I had a taker...

Fred

And another...

Shylo

... and another. I soon ceased to doubt the power of the twig.
Interesting, though, how some cats found the scent incredibly appealing while others stuck to their original just-a-stick position.

Here are a few more cats who fell into the pro- camp:

Snowball

Angel

Diablo

Josie

Harry

Worried Harry looks a little too excited? Fear not. He went right back to his nap as soon as I took the matatabi away.

Instructions on usage from back of matatabi package

Lincoln

As for Lincoln, he dropped it of his own accord after suddenly discovering a case of the munchies.

PeeWee

Angel

Looking at Angel is the only easy way to tell that Leo and Daphne are blood relations. She's got a black and white version of her mom's long coat and a mostly straight version of her brother's short tail. She also shares with Leo a streak of white along her back like some random mistake of a brushstroke. Angel's is more pronounced and against the black fur it gives her an appearance reminiscent of Penelope Pussycat from the Pepé Le Pew cartoons.

Personality-wise, I find Angel a bit hard to figure. She can be very good at feigning indifference, as if she'd sized up the human world and found it all a bit lacking. Granted, when I met her she had recently been taken out of the only home she knew and was living with five other cats in an enclosure the size of a large shower stall... Despite food and water, soft things to sit on and the presence of the cats she grew up with, I guess it's hard to blame her for being unimpressed with the whole situation.

I was very pleased to hear she was adopted shortly after I took her mother and brother home. I was very surprised to hear yesterday that she was back at the sanctuary again. She was to be a companion for an older cat and apparently intimidated that cat so much that it just wasn't going to work out.

Angel appears to be taking all this in stride. I went to visit her and she totally ignored me, being very much engrossed in the business of lounging. Next time I passed by, though, she changed her mind and decided a bit of attention might not be so bad. She even deigned to meow.

Updated October 4, 2010: Wonderful news - Angel and her good friend Snowball have been adopted together!