Meet Enzo!

Enzo is a male red tabby with a birthday coming with up!  He has been given an estimated birth date of February 20th.   He’ll be 4 yrs. old!

He is a good sized male and an armful to carry.  Here he is stretching out to show us his size or maybe thinking of taking up dancing.  I’m not sure which.  Actually he was playing with a feather toy on a string on a wand.   He is willing to play when the right toy interests him!

Enzo has an engaging personality!  He likes to socialize, is curious about what’s happening in the shop, and is friendly.   He has been around dogs and was okay with them. 

He is trained to use a scratching post which is always a plus for an indoor cat.  StreetCats adopts cats who will be kept indoors by the owners.  This keeps them happy, healthy, and safe.

Enzo got off to a rather rough start in life.  He was adopted out of a shelter, but the woman who adopted him moved and left him with a sister.  The sister’s very ill mother-in-law moved in with her and she said that she could no longer keep him.  We are now caring for him and helping to find him a new and loving forever home. 

Enzo is very healthy!  He has tested negative on all of the tests and has had all of the vaccinations that he needs to ensure that he is well.  Through the Home Again program he has had a micro-chip placed under his skin.  When he is adopted the new owner’s contact information will be added.  He has also been neutered and has great teeth!

StreetCats is located at 6520 E. 60th St., here in Tulsa, OK.  Come by and visit Enzo  and our other cats any time Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 until 5:00, or call our Message line, at 918-298-0104, with any questions that you may have.

 How can you resist that face?!

Until We Meet Again

  

Hi, everyone!  Here I am . . . Smokey!  Before I tell you what I have on my mind today I want to share a story with you.  It is such a beautiful story!  Many of you already know it, but it is such a nice story that it's fun to read it over and over again!  Here it is.

  

Now guess what!  When you are reading this that beautiful place described in the story is where I'll be!  Now, wait, wait!  I can see your smile turning into a frown with a sad expression all over your face.  Stop that!  You know, because I've told you, that my health has not been good.  And several days ago I decided it was time to leave my people for a while.  I will miss them, but I'll feel so much better and I know we'll be together again some day!

So . . . how did I tell these people who love me so much that it was time for me to go?  Well, I quit eating and drinking.  That's the way many of us living beings do it.  My people didn't want me to be uncomfortable so they took me to the hospital.  They are going to miss me so much that they tried a lot of different foods to see if I would change my mind.  And I must admit I was tempted by some of the yummy things they offered me!  But my old body has just broken down to the point that I couldn't handle that.  And talk about uncomfortable!

But my final days in the hospital were not so bad.  The people there at Feline Specialties are very kind.  And I had the best visit from my mom, Linda D!  She brought my brush (gosh I love that brush!) and she brushed me and talked to me for such a long time!  Thanks, Mom!  And when it was my time for my final sleep, Mom was there with me.  And now I am gone, waiting in the wonderful place in the story I shared with you.

Now here is what I want my people to do!  I want you to continue your loving care for kitties and for any other animal that crosses your path.  And we will continue to reward you with loving you and letting you stroke our soft fur!  And when I see you again I will be so proud of what you've done with your days!  Your kindness matters!  Now remember, I'll be waiting for you!  And Linda D., don't forget my brush!

Just Chillin'!

Hi everyone!  I decided it's time to check in and give you an update about the things happening at StreetCats.  First, I, Smokey the cat, was at the spa/hospital for a few days.  You know I haven't been well and I went for a checkup and to get a bath and massage.  My fur is so soft now that the human helpers are bugging me a bunch because they want to pet me.  And actually I don't have a lot of time for that or for writing blogs.  Napping and dining are my priorities!

So, what's happening here?  Actually the group of us is just chilling around here, waiting to be adopted.  There haven't been a lot of adoptions in the last few weeks and I know why.  It's because it's warm outside.  Just wait until it turns cold and all the humans want to be next to that fur that I mentioned above!  Then there'll be people streaming in here!  In the meantime, we're just hanging out waiting.  Make no mistake, we all want forever homes!!  But in the meantime, we are comfortable and dearly loved!

For instance, here's Beamer.  He likes to pretend he's nursing and these people let him do it, right?!  That's just how much they love hm!!

And while he isn't nursing and is just chilling he has a window to look out.  It's fun to watch the cats and people coming and going.

When the people do get ready to come and adopt us, we have all kinds of kitties to choose from.  We have lap cats like Sparkle.

We have shy kitties, playful kitties, kitties who like to talk and kitties who like to hide.  We have kitties of all colors!  And we have laid back kitties, like Boris, who went home several weeks ago.

So fall weather is here, folks, and we're here waiting for you . . . with our soft, warm, silky fur.  Hurry in, beat the rush!!

Feline Friday - Marlo

Marlo is a a ticked brown tabby.  Her estimated birthday is July 13, 2012.  Although she might get along with a cat friendly dog, we think that she would  prefer being the only cat in a family,

She likes her privacy and often can be found sleeping in closets or cabinets.  She especially likes cabinets full of nice soft towels and fluffy cat beds, like the ones we have at StreetCats.

Marlo is a very sweet natured cat!  She's a lap cat, but also loves playing with her toys, and getting tummy rubs, as well.

These days she is enjoying what I call her cat cave.  She plays in it, on it...

  ...and behind it! 

  She still has her claws and is familiar with using them on scratching posts.

She has been seen by a vet and has a clean bill of health!  She tested negative for 
Fe/Leuk/Aids, is current on her rabies and FVRCP vaccinations, and has been spayed.  She is also micro-chipped! She is registered, at no charge to the new owner, with Home Again program for pets.  Micro-chipping is one of the best ways to have a pet returned should he or she get lost and found by someone other than yourself.  When she is adopted, the new owner's contact information will be added.

StreetCats is located at 6520 E. 60th St. here in Tulsa, OK.  Come by and visit Marlo and our other cats any time Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 until 5:00, or call our Message line, at 918-298-0104, with any questions that you may have, about her or anything else about StreetCats, and someone will call you back.

Nightmare!!

Last night I had a terrible dream!  This is sometimes called a nightmare or maybe even a night terror!!  I suspect that this dream was really a flashback from an earlier time, a time which my memory, in order to protect myself, has suppressed.  Here is what I dreamed.  There was a very young child being readied for bed and her mother told her to hold her arms over her head. And then with a sweet smile on her face, the mother said "skin the cat" as she pulled the child's shirt quickly over the child's head.

What??!!  If this is truly a memory of mine, and I believe it has to be, no wonder I'm not well!!  What kind of mother would say such a thing??!!  While I cannot answer that, I will leave you with a few more appropriate things to say about cats.  They were all said by very important people, as you will see, and are much more in touch with the rightful place of cats in the lives of humans.

My relationships with cats has saved me from a deadly, pervasive ignorance.  William S. Burroughs

Cats choose us; we don't own them.  Kristin Cast

Time spent with a cat is never wasted.  Colette and Sigmund Freud

What greater gift than the love of a cat?  Charles Dickens

How we behave toward cats here below determines our status in heaven.  Robert A. Heinlein

A cat has absolute emotional honesty; human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.  Ernest Hemingway

I have studied many philosophers and many cats.  The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior.  Hippolytus Taine

If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat.  Mark Twain

There.  That's better.  Cats rule!!  Smokey

Feline Friday - Meet Izzy!

Izzy is June’s Kitty of the Month!  Simply put, she is precious!  She is an adorable brown patch tabby with white born approximately May 13, 2013.  If you look closely you’ll see the stripes, which are markings of the tabby, within the yellow and gray patches of fur.  Her markings are beautiful, especially the checkerboard like pattern on the top of her head.

She is described as playful and affectionate.  She loves to cuddle.  At StreetCats she also seems shy.  By her choice she likes to live up and away by staying in an open cage when relaxing.  I call it her suite.  It has 2 rooms with a pass through window.  That way we can keep her food and bed away from the litter box.   She watches the world go ‘round from up there and loves it when someone stops to pet her!

She comes out for strolls on top of the empty cages sometimes.  She is a little camera shy and has asked me to please stay back a little ways when I have my camera with me.

Izzy was rescued by a man who could not keep her.  He had dogs and bringing a cat into the family just wouldn’t work.  Before coming into the shop she was first taken to one of the veterinarians who works with us to care for the kitties.

She was thoroughly checked out and has had all of the tests needed to ensure that she is healthy.  Speaking of tests, she passed them all with flying colors.  She is now up to date on her rabies vaccine, and has also been spayed.   Through the HomeAgain program she had a microchip placed under her skin.  This chip can be “read”, with a special tool, by veterinarians and animal rescue organizations.  This is invaluable when your pet is lost and found by someone other than yourself.  When she is adopted the new owner’s contact information will be added to it.

Oh, one more thing!  She is a little different from other cats.  She has short front legs.  It’s not a problem, simply a difference.

StreetCats is located at 6520 E. 60th St. here in Tulsa, OK.  Come by and visit Izzy, and our other cats, any time Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 am until 5:00 pm.  If you have questions about Izzy, or anything else about StreetCats, you can call our Message line, at 918-298-0104,  and someone will call you back. 

We're a mystery!

I've been thinking a lot recently about how wonderful we kitties are, about how people adopt us from StreetCats and about how much they love us.  And guess what else I've been doing.  I've been reading poetry.  And I'm becoming a fan!  Do you know how many poems are written about cats??!!  So many!  Because people love us!!

So here is a poem.  It is by Jane Hirshfield.  She's famous!

A Small-Sized Mystery

Leave a door open long enough,
a cat will enter.
Leave food out, it will stay.
Soon, on cold nights,
you'll be saying "Excuse me"
if you want to get out of your chair.
But one thing you'll never hear from a cat
is "Excuse me."
Nor Einstein's famous theorem.
Nor "The quality of mercy is not strained."
In the dictionary of Cat, mercy is missing.
In this world where much is missing,
a cat fills only a cat-sized hole.
Yet your whole body turns toward it
again and again because it is there.

Meet Sensi!

Sensi is a beautiful Tortie with a little tortietude mixed in.   Torties seem to have their own particular attitude towards life and other beings.  Her birthday is approximately August of 2014.  She has not been declawed. 

Sensi loves laps and attention!  When someone sits in one chair in particular at StreetCats that's her cue to jump up for a cuddle session.  She's also playful, friendly, and curious. I took some boxes to the shop and she was drawn to them immediately! As you can see she seems quite comfortable.  Sensi is a good cat and gets along best with other cats, but not so much with dogs or children. 

She was rescued by someone who couldn't keep her. In her home the owner said that she was cuddly, sweet, and  playful.  Although she was very attached to Sensi, she had to give her up when it was discovered that her son was allergic to cats.

Sensi is very healthy!  She has been spade and has had all of the tests, including those for feline leukemia and feline AIDS/FLV, and vaccinations that she needs to ensure that she is well.  She has had a micro-chip placed under her skin and when she is adopted the new owner’s contact information will be added. 

StreetCats is located at 6520 E. 60th St., here in Tulsa, OK.  Come by and visit Sensi and our other cats any time Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 until 5:00, or call our Message line, at 918-298-0104, with any questions that you may have about her or anything else about StreetCats and someone will call you back.

Revolving Door!!

Hello, all!  Yes, it's me, Smokey, and I'm here to answer your question as to where I've been and why I haven't written a blog in a while, because I know you've been wondering about me.  Well, I'm right here at StreetCats, trying to get some sleep.  I usually write blogs at night because I'm nocturnal, you know.  But the thing is, I've been having to sleep at night because things are so wild and crazy around here that I can't rest during the day.  Every time I fall asleep the door opens!  Cats coming in, cats going out, HOW IS SMOKEY SUPPOSED TO GET ANY REST???!!!

Okay, that helped a little.  Whew!  Now, with the help of the wonderful StreetCats blog photographer, Vickie Sanborn, I'm going to explain this situation to you.  IT'S BUSY HERE!  And busy means noise and humans coming and going constantly and they all want to pet me (of course!!).  So when is anyone ever going to have time for blog writing?!  And it's not just the humans who are noisy, it's the cats!!  And here is how it goes.

First, kitties get here in a special coach called a cat carrier.  I ride in one of these sometimes, too.  Now this picture is of Peanut and don't get excited about him because he went out the revolving door just right after he came in it.

Now some kitties who are scared stay in cages by themselves when they first come to StreetCats, but Peanut wasn't scared so he got to come out and go wherever he wanted to.

And cats are curious creatures, you know, so Chris wanted to come meet Peanut to size him up, to see if Peanut would want to challenge his position as boss of StreetCats.  And come on, humans, I'm thinking you creatures have a good understanding of that issue!  (And Chris, already out the revolving door, too.)

Now this next picture shows the noise factor!

Get it now??  It can get noisy here!!  And here's the deal!!!  Twenty-seven cats have been placed in forever homes from StreetCats so far this year!!  And there are two applications pending!  That StreetCats door is constantly opening and closing . . . so fast! . . . with arrivals and happy departures.

Okay, now that I've explained and even shown you why you haven't heard from me in a while I'll tell you why you may not hear from me again for a while.  I'm going to tap my artistic ability and make a sign to hang up here to welcome new kitties when they come to StreetCats.  And it's going to say "JACKPOT!"  Because when kitties come to StreetCats they have hit the kitty jackpot for sure!

Meet Rea!

Rea got her name from a character in the most recent Star Wars movie, "The Force Awakens".  Luke Skywalker's daughter, Rea, was the Jedi heroine  I just had to throw that in so that you would know the origin of her name.  The cat that she came in with, from the same family, is named Boba Fete, who was also a Star Wars character in the movie.  Our Rea does not take after her namesake very much; beautiful, yes, forceful, no.

Rea is a gentle sweetheart of a kitty!  She is just a little over a year old and is front declawed.  She is a Torbie!  Torbies are a combination of Torties and Tabbies.  She is just a little over a year old and is front declawed.

She came to StreeCats because a person in her household became allergic to cats.  As I said above, she came in from the home with another cat.  He is a smoky gray short haired kitty with a lot of white on him.  He is also a very nice cat. 

Rea is very healthy!  She has had all of the tests, including those for feline leukemia and feline AIDS/FLV, and vaccinations that she needs to ensure that she is well.  She has had a micro-chip placed under her skin and when she is adopted the new owner’s contact information will be added to it.  She has also been spade.




StreetCats' building is located at 6520 E. 60th St., here in Tulsa, OK.  Come by and visit Rea,  and our other cats, any time Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 until 5:00, or call our Message line, at 918-298-0104, with any questions that you may have.  

Meet Johnny!

In honor of his estimated First Birthday, coming up this Sunday, March 12, 2017, we are featuring Johnny!  As you can see he is a very handsome red tabby!

He is also very cute!  Just look at that adorable face!

He is curious and playful and always ready for a game of any sort. 
When he is not playing he’s a pretty laid back kitty.  

He’s outgoing, very sweet and he loves to be petted.  When he feels that he hasn’t gotten enough love he reaches out with his paw encouraging the petter to pick up where she left off.

He was adopted earlier this year with his brother.  Although he gets along with the other cats here at StreetCats it didn’t work out in his new home with the 2 cats.  He was returned to us the end of February.  In his next  home he may be happier as the only cat in the house.  He has not lived with dogs, yet, so we can’t predict whether or not he would be okay with dogs.

Johnny is very healthy!  He has had all of the tests that he needs to ensure that he is well, including feline leukemia and feline AIDS/FLV.  He passed with flying colors!  He has also been vaccinated and neutered.  He has had a micro-chip placed under his skin with all of his information.  When he is adopted the new owner’s contact information will be added.

If you are interested in meeting Johnny, feel free to come by StreetCats at 6520 E. 60th St, in Tulsa, 10:30 - 5:00 Tuesday though Saturday, or call our message line, 918-298-0104, with any questions that you may have.  We would love to show you around and introduce you to Johnny and I’m sure that he would love to meet you, too!

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You!!!

Today I would like to talk to you about the importance of the arts in our society.  Because I want all my readers to support the arts!  The arts are very important . . . and they include movies.  Here are some of the things that the arts can do to help our society and our world.  They can improve attitudes, help us communicate effectively, be smarter and more innovative (which leads to prosperity, right?)!  Okay, got it?  Support the arts!!

And, more specifically, go to our movie!!  Seriously, our movie!!  I'm so excited about this that I can hardly even explain, but I'll try!!  I'm going to see if someone will take me to this movie so that I can be discovered and win an award and walk the red carpet!!  Can't you just see it?!  Beautiful gray me, on that red carpet!!

Okay, deep breath, let me tell you about this exciting event.  Soon, on 3/10/2017, the wonderful Circle Cinema, surely the smartest cinema in Tulsa, is going to show a film called Kedi.  Now this movie's stars, Oscar worthy without a doubt, are all furry.  And they all say MEOW!!  Yes, yes, yes, the stars of this movie are cats!!  Yes, you read correctly, CATS!!  Now these aren't pretend cats.  These are real cats who live on the streets of Istanbul and they are the STARS of this movie!  (Wow, I wonder if "meow" sounds the same in Turkish as it does in English??). Okay, did you get that, a movie starring real cats is coming soon to a Tulsa theater!!

Now if you think that's exciting, wait until you hear this part!!!  It is coming to Tulsa in cooperation with StreetCats!!  Yes, our very own StreetCats!  If you don't believe me, just call Clark Wiens, Circle co-founder and board president.  And if you need further verification, just talk to our president, Kathy Balsiger, our very own StreetCats president!  She can tell you because she is going to be speaking at the grand opening of the movie Kedi (the movie about cats) on  March 10, 2017, at Circle Cinema, 8 South Lewis Avenue, right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  (Circle Cinema is a non-profit cinema so the proceeds will go to promoting more movies about CATS!)

I have no more time to talk about this now!!  I need to call Feline Specialties and get an appointment to get my hair done!  They'll do a mani/pedi, too!  Oh I just know I'm going to be discovered!  There will be movie stars and movie makers and popcorn and . . . .

Cats and Boxes!

Before I start on this important topic, I want you to see my new picture.  My photographer, Vickie, took this picture of me.  I do believe I will now begin every blog I write with this picture of me.  Now you people out there who are wanting to adopt me, sorry, but I am not available.  Nope, I'm not available for adoption.  My people like to tell everyone that it's because I have "special needs."  But ha!!  It's really because they don't want to lose their kitty blogger!

So shall we  begin our explanation as to why kitties are so drawn to boxes?  And it's the truth, they are!  You may be excited about the gifts that you find inside the boxes on Christmas Day, but your cat will be thrilled that you bought her the boxes!  What could be better?!  In doing research on this question I visited the internet and here is what I learned.  Getting inside a box might be a coping skill for cats who are stressed.  In the box they will feel more secure, sheltered and warm.  Well, duh!

So okay, I decided to do an experiment.  We take a box, put it in the big cat room and wait to see what happens.  And here you go!

So . . . does the fact that Sensi climbed in the box prove that the above theories are correct?

By the way, Sensi IS available for adoption!  And if you're interested in a lap cat with lots of personality and just the right amount of sass, then this is the cat for you!  She will keep you wondering and entertained!

Now my last statement to you is this.  The information I have given you comes from the internet and was written by humans.  They think they are so smart!  But what they come up with are only theories!  They cannot fully understand the mind, instincts, motives or any darn thing else about us cats!  And we're not talking!  You just keep right on wondering why we like boxes!