We went down to the shelter yesterday after work to see Nickel, who we found listed under his shelter name “Nicky” and shacked up with another black kitten named Salem. A shelter volunteer confirmed what we’d suspected: he’d been in sick bay for most of the last two weeks. Poor guy. He looks big and strong now, and was happy to see us, lounging in our arms without getting squirmy. When we took him into the playroom, he was ready to run around and play. The volunteer told us that all the Vixens were indeed adopted, as were several other kittens who had languished on view for several weeks. So with school back in session, the pace of adoptions has picked up. Nickel’s time has to be coming soon. Anyone who picks him up should realize how great he is.

Our other mission at the shelter was bringing home another litter of foster kits. In this case, it’s a grab-bag composed of six kittens from at least three different litters that have been at the shelter for a few weeks each. They hadn’t been sent out to foster homes yet because all the foster homes were full. Instead they were placed in an unused office at the shelter that has been converted into something like a kindergarten for a couple dozen kittens.

When we opened the carrier in the bunkhouse and pulled them out, it was clear that they’re all fat and healthy, even if some of them have crusty noses. They’re also much older and bigger than the fosterlings we usually get. All are weaned, and most of them are pretty well socialized already. This group shouldn’t present much of a challenge.

With the exception of their names, that is. The names they received at the shelter were a tangled fever-swamp of Fs and Gs: Flynn, Felice, Ferris, Gerber, Gerdy, and Gretel. You gotta be kidding. Gerber? WTF kind of name is that? Hey, why not Fergerburglar?

So to reflect their tongue-twisting original F ‘n G names, we’re calling this litter the Figs. And we’re renaming half of them, to preserve our sanity. Martha had a cat named Felice for 16 years, so this Felice is being renamed Shelley. So far, she’s the shy Fig, and can be difficult to extract from under the bed.

Gerber is a very friendly and good-looking brown tabby, so he gets a cool name. Lyell, after the tallest mountain in Yosemite, where we spent our recent vacation.

And we can tell already that Gerdy (the Tortie) is this group’s wild thing, so we’re renaming her Tenaya, after Yosemite’s rugged and dangerous Tenaya Canyon and beautiful Tenaya Lake.

Flynn can keep his name. He has that rakish black spot on his nose, which is sort of movie-star-ish.

Gretel… eh. Not a great name, but at least it sounds somewhat original. This Gretel is a purring female buff/orange tabby, which isn’t something you see every day. We’ll stick with Gretel for now.

Ferris. OK, I think that’s a good name for this guy. Ferris Bueller, Ferris Wheel… both kind of hip. He seems like he might be a bit of a manipulator or a con-man. We’ll find out.

filed by: TS