On New Year’s Day we cleaned the villa and gave Pumpkin and Peanut a flea treatment (just in case) to make sure they were ready for a visit from their new family. As the morning slipped into mid-afternoon we wondered if things were still on schedule, but then we got a call around 4:30 from their adoptive mom, who was driving home from New York with her family. By 5:30 she was filling out paperwork outside the villa while her twin boys tried to engage the kittens with the Cat Dancer and laser pointer.

Predictably, Peanut dashed under the futon when it was time to head home. So we dismissed everyone from the villa while I squeezed under the frame to snag him. While trying to stash him in the carrier along with Pumpkin we missed our chance to snap a parting shot of our big and gorgeous furballs with their new peeps. We’re hoping their mom will send us a few pix of P and P at large in their forever home.

Their departure left Seamus and Raemy to rule the villa. With fewer feline playmates, Raemy continued the charm offensive that she’d launched immediately after she was spayed. Late last week she’d hop onto the futon to join us, then purr when we picked her up. Maybe she decided to emulate Seamus.

And Seamus seemed to be slowly growing out of his Pigpen demeanor. While his face was still stained in a few spots, the black streaks on his cheeks disappeared. We gave him a good scrub before taking him and Raemy to PetMAC on Saturday for an adoption event, which we’d decided to do on short notice.

We’re glad we did, because they were the only kittens in attendance and we met three pairs of legitimate adopters. We were happy when one of the couples opted for an older pair of all-black sisters, since black cats face long odds on finding homes. Then a twenty-something couple who’d been mulling several candidates decided they wanted Seamus and Raemy. Woohoo!

While the couple shopped for food and supplies, we took S and R home for flea treatment and to get their paperwork, then packed them up again and drove back to DC to meet the couple at their apartment. We did the home visit, reviewed and signed the contracts, and delivered the kittens in one fell swoop.

That almost never happens, but after interviewing the couple at the PetMAC event, the HT manager realized that this couple was rock solid. By the time we headed home with an empty carrier, we completely agreed.

So on a 5-degree day in DC, 50K is furball-free for what seems like the first three-day stretch in over a year. We turned off the heater in the villa and its thermometer reads 55 degrees. But something tells me things will heating up in there again soon.

filed by: TS