Get to Know Your Sitter's Pets

Raven’s Pets

The Forever Kitties

Stormy

When my brother’s Maine Coon had kittens in June of 2020, I didn’t think anything of it. When I met this little cutie, Stormy, a month later, there was NO way he wasn’t staying with me for life. His personality began to match his name VERY quickly but he fit in with my family’s dogs & cat so well!

He is a HUGE cat; a whopping 18lbs & stretching as much as he can to reach new heights wherever he goes!

Unfortunately, Stormy endured some grief at a very young age. Between December 2020 and July of 2021, we lost our 2 senior dogs and senior cat, all of whom Stormy played & engaged with often. Our home was flooded with grief and the energy felt stale & sorrowful.

I gave it some time… I knew I wanted another cat to keep him company but I also valued giving both him & I some time to grieve & mourn the losses.

Rosie

In the fall of 2021, I was visiting my best friend in Utica and she convinced me to check out the cats from the Humane Society of Rome that were at a local pet store. I had a couple of applications to local shelters go unanswered so I was feeling a bit defeated, but I went anyway.

Enter Rosie. A 3-year-old black Bombay cat, literally just sleeping amongst the cacophony of shoppers and the rambunctious kittens she was surrounded by, and my heart went “this one.”

Stormy & Rosie were slowly introduced, but started getting along very quickly. Over time, Stormy made sure to teach Rosie everything he learned from his canine siblings, including:

Nap Posture

Guarding the House

Shenanigans

Meal Time Etiquette

Bird Watching

More Shenanigans

Helping Mommy with Marketing

Caroline

Caroline was a stray cat living near Caroline Street in Utica and was successfully trapped & temporarily fostered by my best friend & co-founder of Traveling Tails & Ragamuffin Rescue, Inc.

She was adopted out in December 2022 as a barn cat, but was unfortunately requested to be returned in January 2023. With no available fosters but an empty room in my house, I opted to start fostering her. How long could it be, right?

Fast forward over a year later, I was still fostering this sweet girl with no adoption leads.

There were some difficulties at first; I’ll never be a hand model in this lifetime but now I know how to get a feral cat out of a ceiling!

Caroline moved from the basement bedroom to my own bedroom to help her socialize and she has come out of her shell SO much during this time!

She trusts me immensely and is getting super confident interacting with the other cats in the house. I had (begrudgingly) fallen in love and there was no chance I was letting her go after all that time.

In Memoriam

I simply would not have had the life experiences that I’ve had if not for my dogs & cat growing up, Max, Bailey, & Polly.

Max was a golden retriever who joined the family as a puppy when I was in first grade and he lived to be nearly 14. He was a huge part of the family and I can’t think of a single childhood memory that doesn’t involve Max. He was there for my mom & I through thick & thin and he loved us unconditionally, as we did him.

Adopting Bailey… was totally 10-year-old-Raven’s doing. My mom had dropped off the car at the shop and as we walked to the mall across the street, she explicitly said to me, “we are not getting anything, we are not buying anything, we are just killing time while we wait for the car.” About that…

Polly was probably the most calm, mellow cat I’ve ever met. She didn’t mind being handled (except for her meds!) and she loved to nap & snuggle with anyone around.

Honorable Mentions

Brutus

Weighing in at 113 pounds, the sweet black-mouth-cur, Brutus, (belonging to my dad, Eric, & my too-cool-to-be-a-"stepmom," Kim) MUST make this list.

He is a bit anxious and often doesn't know how large he truly is (can totally fit on the bed comfortably!), but his personality is truly the warmest of any dog I've ever known.

Jessie

Found orphaned, cold, & wet in a crawlspace at just 4 weeks old, my mom, Kathy, could not say no when asked to take in this teacup-sized kitten. Initially meant to be a temporary arrangement, a foster-fail was inevitable with Jessie's spunky attitude, endless energy, and extreme cuteness!

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