Turtle and Foster Friends (2025)

10/04/2025

Sorry for the lack of Mama updates (she’s still getting better at socializing!) and disappearing from the internet the last several months. I’ve been preoccupied with taking care of my sweet Sunshine and I’ve been putting off posting about it because saying it made it real. She has cancer and at almost 13 years old there isn’t much to do other than keep her comfortable and make her days as good as possible so I’ve been focusing on doing just that.

We spend every morning sitting out in the sun and she gets roast chicken every evening for dinner. Cass, Meg, and Turtle have been giving her lots of love. For now, we are taking it day by day and trying to make every single one count.

If I’m able, I want to share more about her in the early days since I haven’t posted about her much on this account. Sunny has been there since day 1 of fostering and with so many cats coming and going, she’s been my one and only dog. She’s been with me since I had my soulcat, Moe, who inspired me to do foster and rescue so I can only imagine the amazing things that Sunny will inspire ❤️

18/02/2025

It’s book release day! 🤩 You can order your copy of Catawampus on Amazon in either paperback or e-book (link in stories) or read it with Kindle Unlimited!

If you have children or friends with kids or just want to support a children’s author, I highly recommend getting a copy! Not just because it’s about a cat like Turtle, but because it really is a heart warming story that brought tears to my eyes with absolutely stunning illustrations.

Thank you .hoffman.penna for including us in your book and we wish you success with this book and all future projects!

14/02/2025

If anyone needs a Valentine this year, Smoosh is waiting for you ❤️🫶

01/02/2025

Turtle is going to be in a book! The book isn’t about him specifically (don’t tell him that) but he’ll be featured in the back along with other cats with radial hypoplasia, including his former foster brother Toad !

The story follows Catawampus, a cat with radial hypoplasia looking for a home and someone to love him even though he isn’t like other kitties. It’s so important for children’s books to teach kids that animals and people with disabilities exist and that we should be kind and love them all the same. I had the opportunity to read an advanced copy and author .hoffman.penna does an incredible job telling a heart warming story. I highly recommend that everyone picks up a copy when it’s released on February 18th!

I’ve linked the author’s website with Turtle’s profile in my bio and you can find out more there on how to order Catawampus: The Story of a Crooked Cat when it’s released ☺️

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from Turtle, Mama Turkey, and rest of the gang! Although by the look on Mama’s face, she hopes everyone got a lump of coal 🤣

28/11/2024

Happy Thanksgiving from the Thanksgiving Crew! Cranberry, Green Bean Casserole, Butterball, Yam, and Stuffin’ have been happy in their forever homes since January, but Mama Turkey is still looking for hers. Hopefully we can find her a home for the holidays 🫶

31/10/2024

Happy Halloween! It was Turtle All Along! 😆

I’ve been enjoying watching Agatha All Along so I dressed Turtle as Agatha, Cass as Wiccan, and Meg as Lilia for Halloween this year. Luckily I already have so many cat costumes laying around it was easy to throw together!

I’ll post about Mama soon. It’s been almost one year since we trapped her and it’s about time she finds her forever home!

17/09/2024

Now that the weather has FINALLY cooled down here in Vegas, the boys are enjoying their outside time! Cass is jealous that Turtle gets free reign of the side yard since he can’t jump the walls. Some cats really do benefit from the fresh air and enrichment that the outdoors provides, but you have to give that to them safely!

Even if you are a renter, you can give your cats outside time safely by getting a cage like the one Cass is in! It’s modular, not permanent, and can be taken apart to fit inside a box for moving. I got this one from Home Depot, but Amazon and other places have them too. 😊

14/09/2024

New- well OLD FOSTER!

Welcome back Mama Turkey! I’ve actually had her back for over a month now. I wasn’t sure about posting anything, but Mama needs a home that’s right for her and we’ve got to get the word out to find it!

First, let’s start from the beginning. Mama was trapped with her second litter of kittens in November of last year after I had rescued her first litter in June. She’s always been sort of in between feral and friendly, not seeking humans and running from strangers but would let you go up to her and pet her once she trusted you. Her kittens were all adopted in January, but she remained after some failed meet and greets. Finally at the end of March, a friend of mine was looking to adopt and was willing to take a chance.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been working together for months on Mama, trying to get her to become friendlier and seek human attention. By July, it was time to say this just isn’t the right fit. I’m never going to fault anyone that wants a cat that is friendly and gives them affection, especially when they are willing to try and put in the work. She held onto Mama for another month until I was between litters so I could transition her back to living here.

She settled in quickly and was out in general population when she started showing signs of being stressed. So now she’s chilling in the foster room and we’ve started her on some anxiety medicine. My hope is that I can work with her to build confidence and eventually wean her off the meds. Then we find her perfect match! And of course, the bestest boy in the world, Turtle, is there to help her too 💕

03/09/2024

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TURTLE! 🥳🎉🐢

I can’t believe Turtle is already 5 years old! Funny thing about Turtle is that in all these years he’s never been a cuddly cat towards humans. He likes being petted but mostly lays in cat beds or cat trees. But this past week while I’ve been feeling pretty crappy, he’s been right next to me, cuddled up to my side. He really is the best cat and caretaker anyone could ask for ❤️ I’m so thankful that one day the stars aligned and you were brought into my life, Turtle.

Kitten update: I finally heard back and they are fortunately negative for panleuk or anything worrisome. They’ll be fine and are in another foster home now. I’m still trying to get my health back in order before I bring on fosters again. Hopefully not long because I miss having kittens, but thankfully Turtle and rest of the zoo are keeping me company. ❤️🐢

30/08/2024

Hey all, it’s been a really rough few days. The kittens stopped eating on their own and started having diarrhea so I brought them to the shelter vet clinic. I left them there so they could get round the clock care since my personal health conditions were getting worse trying to do middle of the night feedings and syringe feed 5 kittens. (The exact reason I can’t do bottle babies). Yesterday, I ended up having to go to urgent care myself because of it.

On top of that, I haven’t heard from the organization after asking for any updates especially because it’s extremely important for me to know if they had something highly contagious like panleukopenia, which can live in the environment for a year and requires intense disinfecting. I try to never bad mouth shelters and rescues because everyone is doing what they can with limited resources in an overpopulation crisis so I haven’t mentioned issues I’ve had with them in the past. But this is my last straw and I just can’t keep working with them if things are going to be this dysfunctional. So on top of everything else, I’ll be looking for a new rescue to foster for.

A huge, huge thank you to everyone that sent food and I promise it’ll be used for the next litter. Thank you all for always being so understanding and I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you better news. Kitten rescue can be really hard sometimes, but it’s still worth it ❤️

27/08/2024

Meet the “I scream for ice cream” crew! They were screaming so loud on the car ride home that this popped into my head 😆 I also thought that it fit since these 5 came in such different flavors!

We have, in order:
Spumoni- the only boy, shorthair tuxedo
Cake Batter- girl, medium haired colorpoint
Cookies N Cream- smallest girl, medium haired tuxedo
Cinnamon- an orange girl!, shorthair, the most spicy
Bubblegum- girl, lynx point shorthair

They’re still pretty scared, but we’ll warm them up in no time 😊

12/08/2024

Adopted!
Red’s meet and greet went great and he went home today! 🥰 That does it for all the Rainbow Kittens 💜❤️🧡💛💚

I’m going to give myself a couple weeks to recharge and clean the foster room before I’m back at it again with another batch. This kitten season has been brutal with how many kittens are in constant need of foster. If you’ve ever been interested in fostering, there’s no better time than now!

04/08/2024

We’ve had a very busy few days of getting vaccine boosters and meet and greets! So far everyone but Red has found their forever homes 😊 All the kittens will be going to homes with cats needing a younger sibling so it works out great.

If you are interested in adopting Red, please message me! He’s such a sweet, playful boy. And definitely more well behaved than Purple or Yellow 😆 He’s just shy when you first meet him so it takes a minute for him to become comfortable with strangers, but I know his person is out there ❤️

30/07/2024

The Rainbow Kitties are looking for their forever homes! If you are interested in adopting one or more, please send me a message for an application!

Purple- Very friendly girl, loves to play especially with her crinkle ball, mischievous
Orange- A little shy girl, probably going to stay on the smaller side, can tell your future by looking into her eyes
Yellow- Golden retriever in a black cat body, very outgoing and adventurous boy, thinks humans are trees for climbing
Red- Playful boy, loves to run wild, will silently judge you, excellent toy hunter
Mama Grey- Would probably prefer being by herself, shy at first but warms up and will rub against your legs for food, deserves a loving home after being on the streets

21/07/2024

Sorry about the lack of updates! Between taking care of them and the Las Vegas heat, I’ve been really drained. It’s getting easier now that Orange has decided to join the cool kids club and eat wet food on her own, although she still wants to be hand fed about half the time 🥴 But look at her! She clearly knows she deserves to be hand fed.

And look at how big everyone is getting! You can really see their different expressions now and everyone has a nice belly ☺️ Chonkification almost complete! Now I just need Mama to gain some weight. It’s a much slower process with adult cats than with young kittens so it’s not surprising. She’s getting fed as often as the babies and gets extra treats so she’ll get there with time!

13/07/2024

💔 We lost Green 😞 If you missed my Stories the other night I had to bring him to the emergency vet. He wasn’t gaining weight and started declining the last few days, low energy, not wanting to eat much, and just looking sickly. I haven’t been posting because I’ve been using every ounce of my energy to keep him going. I was syringe feeding to make sure he was getting nutrition and doing everything else under the sun, but nothing was helping and eventually his body started failing.

They didn’t find any infection or parasites, which means he was most likely born with underlying health issues. This is why us rescuers scream at the top of our lungs to spay and neuter because an underweight outdoor mama having 5 kittens is almost guaranteed to make unhealthy babies. Kittens like Green should not be born to suffer because of human’s irresponsibility.

I’m very fortunate that in all my years fostering, I’ve only lost a few fosters, but they’re the ones that I remember the most. Capri. Dottie. Maple. And now Green. I’ve always felt like I owed it to them to keep their memory alive because I was their forever home. Their forever was just shorter than it should have been 💚

09/07/2024

There’s an old saying my grandpa used to say, “First comes laughing, then comes crying” and Yellow just learned that lesson. Last night I went to check on them before bed and he couldn’t put any weight on his front paw and this morning it was swollen to twice it’s size 😭 Best guess is that he was running around like a maniac and injured himself.

Luckily he’s already putting weight back on it and he’s being taken care- by Orange! Ever since he hurt himself, she will not leave his side and it’s just about the cutest and sweetest thing I’ve ever seen 🥲 She may be the smallest, but she has the biggest heart ❤️

Coincidentally, I already had an appointment with the vet today because Mama Grey has had occasional diarrhea. She’s negative for anything worrisome so most likely it’s a food allergy/sensitivity. Now I get to figure out which foods work best for her and give her some probiotics to hopefully help. At least while we were there, all the kittens got their first set of vaccines! It’s been a day 🥴

Turtle and Foster Friends