2. A sample of some of our early success stories


Our first orphans



In the fall of 2005 our neighbor found 3 kittens in the back yard with no sign of the mother. We waited all day but the mother never came back. When we finally decided to remove them from the nest only 2 were still alive. 5 minutes later our neighbor came over to the house with the 3rd kitten. When she picked it up to put her in the trash, she moved a tiny bit – she wasn’t dead!
So we now had 3 new born kittens and absolutely nothing on hand to help them. We used an eye-dropper to give them some water and started researching on the internet what we should do to save these kittens. The next day we were able to find cans of powdered kitten milk substitute and began our first rescue. We nursed all three kittens and learned our basics. Being new to the island we didn’t know anyone who could adopt them so we decided to keep them all. Liz’s parents live in the apartment next to us so they took the 2 males now named George B. and George G.. We kept the little girl that almost got thrown into the trash and named her Luna because she had a little moon face as a baby.


Jenny’s kittens plus 2



During the spring of 2006 Jenny came into our yard, very wild and very pregnant.  After several attempts, we caught her and put her in our guest house.  She gave birth to 4 kittens the next day.  A week later someone had found 2 kittens a week older who’s mother had been poisoned. We introduced them to her and she adopted them as her own.

After finding good homes for her 6 kittens we decided that she deserved to have a good home too and since we only had Hey Missy, Samantha (one of the cats we brought with us from the US) and Luna we figured one more couldn’t hurt.

When we moved her out of the guest house and into our house, she spent 3 months under our bed. She is now pretty tame and demands pats and love.  She doesn’t like other people and will hide when we have guests.  She is very happy in her home here and we are dedicated to keeping it that way.


Ruby



Ruby was a little kitten that was found at a high rise hotel  by a loving family who had 2 teen girls.   The girls named her Ruby which is short for Aruba.  They had befriended this kitten the entire week while they were at the Marriott.  They had tried to put her with some other cats but found that she was getting attacked by them.  When they came to us,  they had said that they would like to take her home with them.  We were lucky because the vet was open and had said they would see her to issue a health certificate.  While at the vets,  we made airline reservations for Ruby so she could fly in the cabin with the family the next day when they were due to leave.  Needless to say that this was a case that was “meant to be”.    We would like to thank Yessy at the vets office for all her help and support with this effort!


McLovin’



McLovin was adopted on Mothers day by a very nice Aruban family. She is going to have some other cats to play with that are a few months older than her. Her adoptive family include a set of twin teenagers who are going to be great “parents” for her.


Mo and Mojo (now Zoe and Tyson)



Mo was adopted along with his sister Mojo by 7 year old Max (and his parents)

They both left on an early morning flight for Maine with a stopover in Miami. They left the sun of the Caribbean for the chilly climes of
the American north east. I picture them now, stretched out by the hearth of a warming fire this winter, well fed and happy to have a good home.


A new home for Mitsy ‘formerly Pandora’


Pandora is about 4 ½ years old and was rescued from the Holiday Inn as a young adult. She was with us for almost 4 years and and was one of our residents. But we needed to make room for more kittens and put her up for adoption.

She is now living with a family in Savaneta and this morninng we received an email letting us know that she is adjusting well to her new home. We miss her dearly but we know that she is in a good home.


Ruban aka “Stooby Too”


Stooby Too was found along with two other kittens in a sealed box in the countryside. Someone had put them there to die. A woman found them and took them home but she was leaving the island so we took them under our wing.

He is now living in the US with his big sister Cleo. He now goes by the name Ruban – short for (A)Ruban and is settling in quite well.


Pixel


Pixel was found along with two other kittens in a sealed box in the countryside. Someone had put them there to die. A woman found them and took them home but she was leaving the island so we took them under our wing.

Pixel now lives in Maryland and runs the house. His playmate is named Dish and weighs 22+ pounds.


Stooby (the first)


Stooby just showed up at the house one day in the spring of 2006. He was about 5 months old and was the first cat we had seen on the island that had no tail. Apparently the tailless gene is common here on Aruba.

We named him Stubby but since the letter u has the “oo” pronunciation in Papiamento the vet call out for “Stooby” when it was his turn to be examined. And so Stooby it is.

He is now living in the Palm Beach area of the island with his “nephew” Jerry.


Jerry (brother of Tom)


Jerry is one of our 5 lighthouse kittens we rescued in the summer of 2008.

The family that adopted Stooby the first fell in love with him and his sibling Tom. Mom took Jerry, and Tom was adopted by her daughter and lives in Oranjestad.

He is now living in the Palm Beach area of the island with his Uncle Stooby.


Tom (brother of Jerry)


Tom is one of our 5 lighthouse kittens we rescued in the summer of 2008.

He was adopted by the daughter of the mother who adopted Stooby and Jerry. Tom now resides in Oranjestad.


The Lighthouse Kittens


The Lighthouse Kittens were rescued in the summer of 2008. They were under a bush in the dining area and screaming their little heads off. The staff said that they hadn’t seen the mother in quite a while and so we took them home with us and later went back with our cat trap to try to find the mother.

We caught the cat that the staff thought was the mother but it turned out that it wasn’t. We took the cat to the vet to be examined and it turned out that it had Feline Leukemia and was euthanized.

These kittens were about 10 days old when we got them and 2 days later we took them to the vets for their exams. While we were there the technicians said, “We are so glad you are here today. Someone left 2 kittens in a box in front of the door this morning and we don’t have the time to take care of them. Would you be able to take these 2 with you too?”

So we returned to the house with 7 kittens to bottle feed. The new ones were about the same age as the lighthouse kittens and absolutely gorgeous. We decided that we were going to keep the 2 new additions and named the Bunny and The Dude…. (reference to “The Big Lewbowski” by the Coen Brothers).

All 5 of the lighthouse kittens were place in homes here in Aruba and are doing well.


Patch (Sister of Pixel and Stooby Too)


Patch was found along with two other kittens in a sealed box in the countryside. Someone had put them there to die. A woman found them and took them home but she was leaving the island so we took them under our wing.

White cats are very popular on the island and Patch was adopted locally 2 weeks after we put up flyers that she was old enough to be placed.


Mooma


Mooma was about 8 weeks old when he was found wandering the beach at Boca Catalina in August, 2008 . Her rescuer does dog rescue on the island and is not equipped to handle kittens so she brought him to us.

Mooma lived with us for another 4 months before we found him a home on the island that we determined was suitable for him.


Max moves to Rooi Santo


Max was 2 or 3 days old when we rescued him. A groundskeeper at Tierra del Sol found him. We suspect that mom was moving her litter and the groundskeeper happened upon Max, not realizing or knowing that moms will move the kittens, and thought this lone kitten was abandoned.

He had just reached the age where he was ready to go when we got a knock on the door and his new owner introduced herself.

A wonderful couple recently relocated to Aruba from the Netherlands was looking for a young cat to keep their other young cat company. Max was the perfect age and of the perfect tempermate to be that candidate and left that afternoon to his new home in Rooi Santo.

We’ve visted him a few times since his adoption and he loves his new home and his new step brother.