Sebastian & CJ are home

Hopalong named them, but they have new names: Jumpin' Jack Flash (Flash for short) and Tigger. It took them about 5 minutes after we opened the carrier in my home office for them to start exploring.

It has been a week and the kitty energy is undiminished. They figured out the cat flap in my study door (a legacy of the former owner of our house) within an hour. They now have full run of the house and are reviving our 14 yr old big cat, Spike, from his mourning since his shelter partner Rags passed from kidney failure.

The 5 of us pile on the bed each night and both kittens love to sit on my lap and walk on the keyboard when I'm trying to get work done.

We were happy to participate in the Maddie's Fund adoption.

Michael

your heart grows back bigger

I love the line in the movie Must Love Dogs where John Cusack's character says that once it breaks, your heart grows back bigger...

My first Hopalong kitty was the love of my life. Buddy Stone maxed out at 17 pounds, he was a big, beautiful boy who my friend Suzanne always called my 'starter marriage.' Starting with the day I fell in love with him in the window of Your Basic Bird, we had a dozen wonderful years together, and when he passed in October it felt like the end of everything good in my life. Little did I know that two crazy, high-jumping littermates called Carmello and Zephyr were waiting to move in and take care of me, proving that your heart really does grow back bigger when you make room in it.

My new Hopalong kitties love to play and are perfect foils in terms of style and energy, complementing each other as siblings tend to. They love to climb on top of everything, wrestle at the foot of my bed and compete for lap space when I watch movies. Having two is great: I know they have each other for company while I'm at work, and it was nice to keep the kids together.

It took me a while to be ready, but the rush of kitten energy was just what I needed to start a new chapter in life. Everyone at Hopalong was great, and I always recommend the organization to folks who ask or are looking to adopt a pet. I'm so grateful to have my sweet boys, though I can't believe how much they've grown just since the picture below was taken (!)

Hopalong, thanks for helping my heart expand : )

Our Little Diesel Engine

When we adopted five-month-old Diesel in February, we prepared ourselves for weeks of slow, careful training to acclimate him to our home. He was incredibly sweet, but very nervous and skittish. Just 36 hours after arriving, he was tearing up and down the house, entertaining himself with countless toys, romping with our other cat, talking up a storm, and sidling up to us for regular cuddle sessions. He insists on sleeping on my face at night, and he routinely wakes us up with his loud purring.

Diesel is a wonderful addition to our home!

Lindy & Scarlet

March 1, 2011

We (John & Linda) recently lost the third of three cats who were with us when we met, got married and bought a house together. All three shared our lives in good times and bad. Sadly, all three died within a 15-month span – two of old age (18 and 15) and the third from cancer at age 13. We quickly realized that we each had not been without cats in our lives for decades, and the silence was deafening. Enter Hopalong Rescue!

Once we were ready to start looking for new kitties, we decided we wanted to adopt two cats, so they would each have a playmate, and hoped that they would already be bonded so that they did not have to adapt to both a new house AND a new friend. Fortunately, a kind volunteer at the Oakland Animal Shelter (thanks Ann!) directed us to Hopalong, which had just rescued two adorable feline sisters and placed them in foster care. In researching these two, we found that they were very bonded and enjoyed cuddling with each other – sounded like the perfect pair for us. We visited with their foster mom and fell in love! After a short wait for them to recover from being spayed, we met with Trisha at Hopalong to do the paperwork. Trisha was awesome and obviously LOVES what she is doing. We were also very impressed with the clean and comfortable Hopalong offices – there's no doubt they all love and respect their animal clients. We were excited to take the sisters home that day, and
after much discussion, renamed them Lindy and Scarlet.

So how are they doing? Fantastic! After a day or two of hiding under the couch, they have warmed up and let their personalities blossom. They're healthy and playful. They love playing hide and seek, running around the house, playing with toys. When it's time to chill, they love to sit in the window watching birds or cuddle together, even grooming each other every night. They have brought much love and joy to our lives, and our house has the pitter-patter of little paws again.

We can't thank Hopalong enough for taking such good care of their animals. Hopalong is an outstanding organization that provides a valuable and important service to the animal lover community. We were able to learn more about our kitties than we would from an animal shelter, and their loving foster mom (thanks Amy!!) cared for them and made the transition that much smoother. Although adopting from Hopalong is a bit more expensive than many animal shelters, it was worth every penny as we felt SO much more comfortable adopting from people who obviously care so much. Most city animal shelters do a great job too, but the sheer numbers of animals prevent them from giving the same kind of personal attention as Hopalong.

So, thank you so much Hopalong – we are very grateful!

John & Linda Waldman
plus Lindy & Scarlet!
Alameda, CA

Photo: Scarlet (L) cuddles with sister Lindy on the couch

Bella Brightens our Life!

About 8 days ago, my husband and I adopted our darling little Tinker BELLA (formerly known as Fieval) from Hopalong. She has been such a welcome addition to our family of two older dogs, a beagle and a Jack Russell terrier. She seems to have limitless energy and engages with everyone for playtime. As you can see by her picture, she appears to be a border terrier and possibly some schnauzer. We also have two Siberian Huskies (grand-dogs) that come to visit often:, so we were a little nervous about how Bella would be around them. She weighs 8 pounds while the Huskies are 50-60 pounds each. No problem there---the younger huskie just adores her and she actually wears him out with their play!
Last Sunday, I got brave and took the 5 dogs to the Fremont Dog Park---because it has the astro-turf surface I figured that they wouldn't get so muddy from all the recent rain. It seemed like all of the Fremont dog lovers decided the same thing, so the park was crowded. Once I turned Bella loose, she got busy "herding" all those big dogs and chasing them all over the place. She is fearless !
Bella is also very intelligent. She has learned so many tricks and is pretty much house-trained (it helps that we have dog doors for her to use anytime).
I can't thank Hopalong rescue enough for their care and support and a special thank you to the foster mom who did a fantastic job with her! I will happily tell everyone I know about the rescue and I'm sure we will be back to adopt in the future. Linda & Ed Sowell of San Leandro

Happy Tail

almost a month now ;-D
so a update on Jupiter

like my post below, he went to the vet and is now on "the pill" .

he has met several of the furry guys in the park and very social
ok one big dog ( illegal for the park) came through a screen door an we had a long hard talk and won't happen again, but Jupiter was totally safe !
he is slowly learning i am not the big boogie man ;-DD
and this is a short (35 sec) video of him in the back yard today !

so probably the last post as all is going well here, no problems at all
still too fast to use the front door,, but will come on command and a treat) heheheh

and loves long walks in the rain and cold windy weather ( i don't) but i do get my exercise ;-DD

Clink on this link to see a 35 sec of jupiter showing off ;-D

Happy Tail

well jupiter has been a experience for me ;-D
i thought i had everything lined up , new dog tag with a way to find home if lost, friend to drive and a cage in the back so no stress on me or the lil guy.

I was putting Jupiter the friendly corgie/terror in the cage and he managed to get out of his collar and took off running down the street ! he was very fast and traffic was faster, i tried but could not get close to him , But then his foster mom saw what was happening and called him and she brought him back !
have you ever tried "self induced CPR"

the Lil guy slept all the way back home, he checked out the yard and came inside and adopted the couch in the other living room. he was very quiet and shy all night long so let him be where he was with water and food if needed.
By the end of day 2 i decided to find a way to feed him ;-D so i "hot rodded" his crunchies with some salt free/no fat beef broth. yep one tablespoon and "poof" bowel empty and Jupiter back on his couch .

well i got his attention and tried a walk with the leash... WOW he is great! no puling, just nice well behaved and walks along my side. They said to watch out for cats, well we walked by a few, he looked and then ignored !

he still has this "6 ft comfort zone" but now he will follow me around the house and wonder where i am at. He learns quick and now will follow me to the bedroom and sleep in his bed.
perfect little gentleman on a walk. i live in a senior community and all the ladies are saying how cute he is and well behaved !

so now being a senior citizen i finally found a cute doggie can also be "date bait" hehehe

He is still a bit nervous so no fresh pictures, but the whole experience has been great !
i had a rescued doggie before but i will say that Hopalong was totally honest and no surprises with him ! Maybe we will go to my Vet next week if he feels comfortable with it? I want to start him on Heartworm pills ASAP !
NOTE to all.... back in the 70's i lost a basset hound to heart worm and not a nice thing ! now they have a pill that will prevent it, so get them on the pill !!!

with him being so fast and quiet i found it is safest to use the laundry room door as a "sally port".
when i enter and leave my house. and when i come back he is waiting at the door, sees me and then does his 6 ft comfort zone with his tail wagging.

I haven't been back to the bay area since 1986, but this trip was worth it !!

Ya Jupiter will fit right in here and i want to thank Hopalong for their good, no GREAT work !

Dennis